Me And You, Always
by itsthetruth
Summary: The second he touched her hand, he felt her timeline burning across the universe, through time and space. He couldn't just leave her to go wandering off. Flo never expected the rath of Rose Tyler, the brilliance of the universe, or her life crumbling into pieces around her. Rewrite of Series 2. Little bits of 10/OC.
1. Prologue

_So there I was, minding my own business when BAM, this little gremlin is standing there with what looks like a toy gun pointed at me in the middle of this warehouse when he grabbed my hand and pulled me away. We sprinted through the warehouse and out into the street. I doubled over when we were 'safe' on the pavement and breathed heavily as the person who grabbed my hand casually strolled forward slowly, hands in his pockets. He was a man, wearing a brown suit and a long brown coat with sticky up brown hair. This man was apparently a fan of brown. He walked forward a few metres before stopping and looking back at me with his slim face and frowned._

_"Well come on then." He said as if it was obvious I was meant to follow him before turning back and walking along the road. I caught my breath and looked at him before running after him and slowing down as I reached the stranger. _

_"What?" I just asked. "What was- what the- what just- WHAT?" I spluttered._

_"It was a Graske." The man said matter of factly. "Little blighters, have a habit of just turning up wherever they feel like it! I said to Rose, I'll be 2 secs, don't worry, get your stuff, I just need to go see what these readings are, make sure the little thing isn't getting into any trouble. We were having a great Christmas, I won the planet in a sword fight, escaped from the post regenerative coma, and Jackie actually cooked something ok for once! So new year, I said, new year, new Doctor, NEW EARTH! Good idea?" He said before looking at me._

_"You're babbling." I said, slightly shocked._

_"Sorry, I'm being rude, aren't I? Rude and not ginger." He sniffed. "Anyway, what's your name?"_

_"Flo." _

_"Flo." The man grinned. "Flooooooooooooo."_

_"Oi!" I snapped. "Who are you then?"_

_"I'm The Doctor."_

_"The Doctor?" I asked sarcastically. "What, Doctor Looney Tunes? Cause all that in there, BONKERS!"_

_"Oi, I have a reputation to uphold you know!"_

_"Ok then 'Doctor', what was that thing in there?"_

_"I said! A GRASKE!"_

_"Ok, keep ya wig on!"_

_"This." The Doctor stopped in his tracks in the middle of the everyday street. "Is NOT a wig."_

_"Got enough hair gel in it?" I asked sweetly, pressing down on his spikey brown hair._

_"Oi!" He moaned grabbing my wrist playfully and pushing it away before his eyes widened and he looked at his hand in horror._

_"You alright?" I asked slowly._

_"Who are you?" He asked suddenly, turning serious._

_"Flo Maxwell, I've said."_

_"But no, who ARE you?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Time lords, we can see across time, and your future, your timeline, it's just..." He breathed quietly._

_"What lords?" I asked impatiently._

_"Sorry, I, uh, gotta go."_

_"Yeah..." I said curiously. "Rose or something, yeah?"_

_"Yeah, sorry, bye Flo." He said, stumbling off towards a blue police box before he walked inside it, slamming the door behind him._

**3 months later...**

Let me get a little up to speed on who I am. My name is Flo Maxwell, and I'm 20 years old. I have brown hair and is in light curls round to my shoulders and a long block fringe with it. I have no family left in my life, and 3 months ago, I had a strange encounter with The Doctor. So now, here I am, 3 months later, trailing through some crappy estate because my friend wanted me to visit her.

"Lizziiiiie." I groaned as I held the phone clamped to my ear whilst my bag smacked against my black jeans. I pulled the collar on my blue zip up hoodie and grumbled as I nearly bashed my white trainers against each other as I turned the corner. "I know, but after Christmas, I don't want to see _him_ again!" I sighed, thinking back to my ex boyfriend Jasper, who walked out on me on Christmas day for Macey Granger, the little slut. "Look I-" I started to slow down as Lizzie jabbered on in my ear. I looked over to the flats to see two blonde women walking into the block, one older than the other, when a flash of blue caught my eye. I walked round further and froze and choked out a small sob.

"Flo are you listening to me?"

"Gotta go." I said quickly, hanging up and sticking my phone into my bag before sprinting towards the blue box. I stopped outside it and brushed my hand against the door before pushing it open and looking inside. It was... oh. But hang on, was that? No, couldn't be, couldn't be a _spaceship _could it?

"I thought I locked my TARDIS Flo Maxwell." I heard a low voice from next to me. I turned my head slowly and there was The Doctor, smirking at me.

"Hello my love." I grinned at him.

"How long's it been since you last saw me?"

"3 months."

"Ah, feels just like yesterday." He sighed, turning and leaning his back against The TARDIS, looking around the estate as the odd person walked by. "Well it was."

"Oh yeah, time lord, can be anywhere." I chuckled. "Is this a spaceship?" I asked.

"And a time machine."

"Where did you go?" I asked suddenly.

"I came here."

"I had a Graske point a gun at me and I had no idea what was going on Doctor. I was scared."

"Of the Graske?" He asked, a little shocked.

"No." I chuckled, shaking my head. "You grabbed my wrist and that look in your eyes, your oh so ancient eyes-"

"What do you mean ancient?" He asked curiously.

"-And you said my timeline..."

"Who are you?"

"You asked me that the first time we met."

"No, _really_, who are you?" The Doctor snapped, growing serious as he turned and stood infront of me. "What are you?" He thought for a second before grinning childlishly at me. "Well then, guess you better stick with me." He said, walking into The TARDIS and up to the console, leaving me standing outside, watching in on him.

"Stick with you?"

"You can come and travel with me, can't have someone like you with such a powerful timeline running round on your own now can I?"

"And what makes you think I'll come with you?" I scoffed as I folded my arms, walking into The TARDIS and up to the console next to him.

"Oh, you will. Planets, and times, civilizations, all across the cosmos, it's _beautiful_."

"I don't have a choice in this, do I?" I asked, but he just grinned back at me. "And what if I run out of here now?"

"Oh, I think we'll meet again." He said casually, flopping down and sitting on one of the chairs.

"How do I know I can trust you though?" I asked, slightly worried. "What if you're just some nutter, and you're gonna kidnap me?"

"If I was, would you be standing here right now? Would I?"

"Where are we-" We both looked round to the doors to see a young blonde girl standing there with a backpack, staring at me. "Who's this?" She asked sharply, looking at The Doctor.

"This is Flo."

"What's she doing here?"

"She's gonna come travelling with us. No questions asked Rose." He said, pointing a jokey finger at her, although I don't think she took it as a joke. "Now, what was you going to say?"

"Where are we going?" She asked quietly.

"New Earth." I said before The Doctor could ask.

"You remembered!" He cheered.

"Rememered?" Rose asked, walking up to the console and plonking her bag on the floor.

"Timelines are apparently very complicated things." I said, smiling at The Doctor.

"Huh?"

"Oh, don't worry, long story." I laughed, waving my hand off.

"Right then, New Earth." The Doctor said, eyes twinkling at the both of us.

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	2. New Earth

**New Earth**

The Doctor, Rose and I stepped out of The TARDIS and looked across the grassy field, filled with a city, flying cars, you name it, it was there.

"It's the year five billion and twenty three..." The Doctor began as he shut the door. "We're in the galaxy M87, and this... this is New Earth."

"That's just... that's-" Rose began before she burst out laughing.

"Not bad. Not bad at all!" The Doctor grinned.

"That's amazing. I'll never get used to this. Never. Different ground beneath my feet!" Rose started to jump up and down, I couldn't speak, she'd done this before but this was my first trip, I didn't know how I was still standing. "Different sky...! What's that smell?"

The Doctor bent down and plucked a strand of grass from the floor before turning to Rose. "Apple grass."

"Apple grass...!"

"That's beautiful!" I finally managed to whisper.

"Oh, I love this. Can I just say..." Rose began, linking her arm through with The Doctor's, ignoring what I said, but I really didn't care. "... travelling with you... I love it."

"Me too. Come on!" He cheered, grabbing onto my hand aswell and dragging us off down the hill. "So, the year five billion - the sun expands, the Earth gets roasted." The Doctor explained to Rose as we stopped. He sat down on the grass, pulling us down with him and leaned back on his elbows.

"That was our first date." Rose grinned at him.

"We had chips!" The Doctor giggled. "So anyway, planet gone, all rocks and dust, but the human race lives on, spread out across the stars. Soon as the Earth burns up - oh, yeah, they get all nostalgic - big revival movement... but find this place!" He said, nodding at the planet around us. "Same size as the Earth... same air... same orbit... lovely! Call goes out, the humans move in!"

"What's the city called?" I asked in awe.

"New New York."

"Piss off." I scoffed.

"It is! It's the City of New New York! Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original. So that makes it New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York." He laughed as he looked up at Rose, deep in thought. "What?"

"You're so different." She said, biting her lip.

"New New Doctor."

"Can we go and visit New New York - so good they named it twice?" Rose asked as we got up.

"Well - I thought we might go there first." The Doctor said, nodding at a big white building with a green moon on the side.

"Why? What is it?" I asked.

"Some sort of hospital. Green moon on the side - that's the universal symbol for hospitals. I got this." He said, pulling out the psychic paper, he'd explained earlier on what it was for, and how he once convinced Casanova to dine with him, to which, he owed him a chicken. "A message on the psychic paper." Me and Rose leaned over, looking as the words 'Ward 26 - Please Come' scrawled across the paper. "Someone wants to see me." He muttered as he stuffed it back inside his pocket.

"Looks like we'll have to buy some grapes then." I commented as we started to make our way towards the city.

...

"Bit rich coming from you." Rose said to The Doctor, carrying on some conversation they were having as we walked into the hospital reception.

"I can't help it! I don't like hospitals - they give me the creeps!"

"Very smart. Not exactly NHS." I said. "NO SHOP!" I said loudly, earning a glare from Rose and the visitors, but a smile from The Doctor. "I like the little shop!"

"Same." The Doctor agreed.

"I thought this far in the future, they'd have cured everything." Rose muttered.

"The human race moves on, but so do the viruses. It's an ongoing war."

"They're cats." Rose exclaimed, pointing as a nurse cat woman nodded at her.

"Now, don't stare... think what you look like to them, all..." He looked Rose up and down. "Pink and yellow." He said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into a lift whilst Rose stood around. "Ward 26, thanks!"

"Hold on! Hold on!" Rose shouted, but the doors shut on her.

"Oh, too late - I'm going up."

"It's all right, there's another lift."

"Ward 26. And watch out for the disinfectant." He shouted.

"Disinfectant?" I asked, snapping out of my awe of the alien planet and looking at him. "Oh you're fu-" I was cut off talking as water, powder and heaters were blasted through the lift, cleaning us up.

...

"Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one - just a shop. So people can shop." The Doctor explained to Sister Jatt as we walked through Ward 26.

"The hospital is a place of healing."

"A shop does some people the world of good. Not me. Other people..."

"The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help. And to mend."

"But is there no one here you recognize?" The Doctor looked around the room before something caught his eye. "It's rather unusual to visit without knowing the patient."

"No. I think I've found him." The Doctor grinned, walking towards the corner of the room with a massive... face in a jar.

"Novice Hame - if I can leave this gentleman in your care?" Sister Jatt asked another cat nurse as I slowly walked next to The Doctor as he kneeled down in front of the glass case.

"Oh, I think my friend got lost. Uh - Rose Tyler. Could you ask at reception?" The Doctor asked.

"Certainly, sir."

"I'm afraid the Face of Boe's asleep. That's all he tends to do these days. Are you a friend, or...?" Novice Hame began.

"We met just the once on Platform One. What's wrong with him?"

"He's dying." I said quickly, having no idea where that came from. The Doctor looked at me before looking at Novice Hame who nodded.

"Of what?"

"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old. Some people say millions. Although, that's impossible."

"I like impossible." I whispered, walking forward and sitting down on the floor next to The Doctor, cross legged.

"I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me... it's the Doctor..."

...

"The lonely child." My head snapped up and I looked at the tank, Boe now awake, although Novice Hame didn't notice, too busy talking to another nurse.

"Boe, yeah?" I whispered. "That's your name, hm? Hey, how you feeling?"

"The universe grows old and weary Flo Maxwell, but you still burn across its night sky." Boe hummed. "Timelines are complicated old friend, you know that, it's the only thing he's ever told you. I've seen your life Flo, time isn't fixed, remember that."

...

"That's very kind. But there's no need." I looked up to see The Doctor had returned, passing Novice Hame a glass of water before giving me one with a smile.

"You're the one working." He mumbled as I got up and walked over to him standing by the window.

"There's not much to do. Just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company. I can hear him singing, sometimes. In my mind... such ancient songs..."

"Has he been the only visitor?" I asked.

"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct. Long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old. There's all sorts of superstitions around him. One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret. That he will speak those words only to one like himself."

"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked.

"It's just a story."

"Tell me the rest."

"It's said he'll talk to a wanderer. To the one who burnt the skies with their words, who the universe never thought they'd ever need. The lonely God."

The Doctor sighed and reached over to the phone on the table, dialling quickly and waiting for it to ring before, "Rose, where are you? Where've you been? How long does it take to get to Ward 26? You'll never guess. I'm with the Face of Boe! Remember him? See you in a minute." He hung up and smiled at me before nodding over at a man who we learnt was the Duke of Manhattan, cured of some disease. "He should be dead, cured in 10 minutes. What's in that solution?"

"A simple remedy." A cat nurse appeared next to us.

"Then tell me what it is."

"I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality. I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."

"I'm the Doctor."

"I think you'll find that we're the Doctors here." Matron Casp said before she was called off.

"All I hope is that she's had her flea bath." I hissed to The Doctor, to which he just chuckled back.

...

"There you are!" I watched as Rose entered the ward and The Doctor went rushing after her, showing her different patients.

"You don't realise how important you are to him." Boe hummed.

"Important?" I scoffed. "We've only just met."

"One day, you'll be the most important thing in his life."

"I'm curious about him, only to do with my 'timeline' as he puts it, thank you Boe." I explained. "Anyway, I rekcon him and Rose have got a little thing going on there." Boe just chuckled softly.

"Flo!" The Doctor called back to me. "C'mon, need to find a terminal!"

"We'll meet again soon Flo Maxwell." Boe hummed as I smiled and ran up to The Doctor as we walked through the hospital, Rose acting odly.

"Because if they've got the best medicine in the world... then why's it such a secret?" The Doctor said.

"I can't Adam and Eve it." Rose said in a odd accent, stopping in her tracks.

"What's- what's with the voice?"

"Oh, I don't know... just larking about New Earth... New me..." She looked him up and down and we both noticed most of her buttons undone.

"Well, I can talk. New New Doctor."

"Mmm... aren't you just..." Rose mumbled before grabbing him by the face and snogging him senseless. She let him go and walked off as he turned and looked at me, baffled.

"Um..." He began, nodding towards where Rose walked off.

...

"Nope... nothing odd... surgery... post-op... nano-dentistry... no sign of a shop... they should have a shop." The Doctor said as the 3 of us looked at a screen.

"No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse/Cat/Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it...?"

"You're right, well done."

"Why would they hide a whole department though?" I asked.

"It's gotta be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame."

"What if the sub-frame's locked?" The Doctor asked, sonicing the screen.

"Try the installation protocol..."

"Yeah, course. Sorry. Hold on."

...

The intesive care... oh my...

"Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. But one thing I can't understand -" The Doctor seethed at the sisters.

"Listen love." I said, pushing past The Doctor and looking at the cats. "What the bloody hell have you done to Rose?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"And I'm being very, very calm. You wanna beware of that - very, very calm. And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed."

"We haven't done anything."

"I'm perfectly fine." Rose said walking over to me, next thing I know something was sprayed in my face.

"Let me out! Let me out!" I came around, realising I was inside one of the intesive care units, hearing The Doctor's shouts.

"Doctor!" I shouted.

"Flo!"

"Aren't you lucky there was a spare? Standing room only." I looked up to see the outline of Rose on the outside.

"You've stolen Rose's body."

"Who has?"

"Cassandra, the last human." The Doctor spat.

"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor. And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases. They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about... three minutes left. Enjoy."

"Just let Rose go, Cassandra."

"I will! As soon as I've found someone younger and... less common... then I'll junk her with the waste. Now hushaby! It's showtime." I listened out at a argument before the pods door flew open and The Doctor pulled me out.

"What've you done?" He shouted at Rose as he held me up, my one little weakness, claustrophobia.

"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake 'em up. See ya!" She shouted as she ran off.

"Don't touch them!"

"Oh, my God..." Rose said, horrified as The Doctor helped me down the steps, and the lockdown activated, the zombies escaping the pods.

"What the hell have you done?" I gasped.

"It wasn't me!"

"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra! We've gotta go down!"

"But there's thousands of them!"

"RUN! Down! Down! Go down!"

"No, the lifts have closed down. That's the quarantine, nothing's moving." The Doctor shouted as we reached the lift.

"This way!" Rose called, running off another way.

"Someone will touch him!" The Doctor shouted as the slave man got stuck.

"Leave him! He's just a clone thing, he's only got a half life- come on!"

"We're trapped! What're we going to do?" Rose panicked as we reached some sort of cellar.

"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body." He barked at her, whilst holding me up right, christ, barely any air in those things. "That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet! You're compressing Rose to death."

"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead."

"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out."

"Give her back to me."

"You asked for it." Rose sneered as a eerie light left her and came flying towards me. I blacked out and woke up again just outside another lift.

"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" The Doctor shouted at Rose as she sat quietly.

"Inside her head... I can see it Doctor. Who is she? What is she? You've seen it too, but she can't, not inside her own head." Rose said in a hushed tone as The Doctor helped me up.

"What's going on?" I asked as The Doctor pulled me into a tight hug.

...

"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe. We're clean! We're clean! Look, look-" The Doctor explained as a woman came charging towards us with a chair.

"Show me your skin."

"Look! Clean. Look - if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." We showed her our hands. "So, how's it going up here? What's the status?"

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine."

"I am not dying in here."

"Sorry." I interupted. "I'm from blimmin' Earth, the original by the way, in the 21st century, and even I know there's has to be millions of people in that city, you can't risk them getting killed!"

"I'm not dying here!"

"All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Flo. Rose. Novice Hame. Everyone! Excuse me your grace- get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!" We all ran around the room, gathering different solutions and tying them to The Doctor.

"How's that? Will that do?" He asked me.

"I suppose?" I agreed, not sure what they were for. "The lifts aren't working." I said as he soniced open the lift before jumping onto the rope and clinging on with some metal circular object.

"Not moving. Different thing. I'm going down! Come on."

"Oh I bloody hate you." I muttered, running forward and jumping onto The Doctor. "CASSANDRA!" Rose appeared by the doors, shaking her head furiously. "We have to keep Rose safe."

"NO!" She said stubbornly.

"Keep her body safe Cassandra, or your life won't be worth living."

...

Everything was safe, everything was ok, The Face of Boe dissapeared and Cassandra...

"Listen..." Rose began as we stood in the console room, The Doctor off in the corridors of The TARDIS. "Thanks for keeping an eye on him for me."

"It's ok." I mumbled, looking at the controls thoughtfully.

"Its just, there's things you should know, me and The Doctor, we're very close, y'know? And hey, I know what it's like travelling with him, having to leave your life behind, and maybe that's just not the right thing for you?"

"No, I understand, it's all very much about you." I said sarcastically, although I don't think she picked up on the sarcasm.

"Just, don't go rushing into a decision, yeah?" She smiled sweetly at me, before dissapearing into The TARDIS corridors.

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	3. Tooth And Claw

**Tooth and Claw**

"What do you think of this? Will it do?" Rose asked The Doctor with a glint in her eye, showing him a rather short denim dungaree skirt.

"In the late 1970s? You'd be better off in a bin bag. Hold on, listen to this." The Doctor stuck a cd into the console and 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' by Ian Dury and the Blockheads blared out.

"Oh I love this song." I giggled, doing a twirl round the console as The Doctor walked around too. "Growing up, me and my best mates used to blare this out through Amy's house, massive it was. Rory used to think we'd lost the plot but me and her and Mels didn't care."

"Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Number One in 1979." The Doctor grinned over the music.

"You're a Punk!" Rose laughed.

"It's good to be a lunatic-"

"That's what you are. A big old Punk with a bit of Rockabillly thrown in."

"Would you like to see him?" The Doctor asked, looking at me.

"How'd you mean? In concert?" Rose asked before I had a chance to answer.

"What else is a TARDIS for?"

"I can take you to the Battle of Trafalgar... the first anti-gravity Olympics... Caesar crossing the Rubicon... or... Ian Dury at the Top Rank, Sheffield, England, Earth, 21st November, 1979. What do you think?"

"Sheffield it is!"

"Hold on tight." The Doctor grinned as he pulled a lever and we lerched forward, The TARDIS shaking madly as The Doctor bashed a hammer against the console as we sung along to the music. The TARDIS landed with a thud and we all flew to the floor, me ending up on top of The Doctor. He looked at me awkwardly before we both burst into laughter and got up, running out of The TARDIS with Rose following.

"1879." The Doctor sniffed as we appeared in a field, soldiers pointing guns at us.

"Same difference." I hissed.

"You will explain your presence. And the nakedness of this girl." One soldier nodded at Rose.

"Are we in Scotland?" The Doctor asked in a scottish accent.

"How can you be ignorant of that?"

"Oh, I'm- I'm dazed and confused. I've been chasing this... this wee naked child over hill and over dale. In't that right, ya... timorous beastie?"

"Ooch, aye! I've been oot and aboot." Rose said in a terrible accent as I bit my lip to stop myself laughing.

"No, don't do that."

"Hoots mon!"

"No, really don't. Really."

"Will you identify yourself, sir?"

"I'm Doctor James McCrimmon. From the... Township of Balamory. Eh... I have my credentials, if I may..." The Doctor began, taking out the psychic paper and showing it to him. "As you can see, a Doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. I trained under Doctor Bell himself."

"Let them approach." I heard a posh voice say.

"I don't think that's wise, ma'am."

"Let them approach." The voice said again before we slowly walked towards the carriage. We stopped outside the door before a footman opened the door and there sat- holy shit it was Queen Victoria.

"Flo, Rose - might I introduce her Majesty Queen Victoria. Empress of India and Defender of the Faith."

"Rose Tyler, Ma'am. And my apologies... for being so naked." Rose curtseyed.

"Flo Maxwell, Ma'am." I mumbled, curtseying.

"I've had five daughters." Queen Victoria said to Rose. "It's nothing to me. But you, Doctor... show me these credentials." The Doctor handed over to psychic paper. "Why didn't you say so immediately? It states clearly here that you have been appointed by the Lord Provost as my Protector with your wife accompanying you." She nodded at me and my eyes grew wider as she handed him back the paper.

"Does it? Yes, it does! Good! Good! Um.. then let me ask - why is Your Majesty travelling by road when there's a train all the way to Aberdeen?"

"A tree on the line."

"An accident?"

"I am the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Everything around me tends to be planned."

"An assassination attempt?"

"What, seriously? There's people out to kill ya?"

"I'm quite used to staring down the barrel of a gun."

"Sir Robert MacLeish lives but ten miles hence. We'll send word ahead, he'll shelter us for tonight, then we can reach Balmoral tomorrow." Captain Reynolds said from behind them.

"This Doctor, his wife and his... timorous beastie will come with us."

"Yes, Ma'am. We'd better get moving - it's almost nightfall."

"Indeed. And there are stories of wolves in these parts. Fanciful tales intended to scare the children. But good for the blood, I think. Drive on!"

...

"So what was all that about then?" I asked as I turned round from getting dressed into a long baby pink dress with sleeves to my elbows with a low cut neck to see The Doctor lying on the bed. "How did I end up your wife?"

"No idea." He sniffed before looking up at me and smiling. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." I blushed, walking over to the dressing table to tie my hair up, leaving my fringe down. "But," I said turning round and looking at him. "I've come prepared just in case we do find ourselves running from a werewolf." I pulled up my dress to show him my trainers still underneath before dropping it again and sitting on the end of the bed, looking at him. "Doctor?"

"Hm?"

"It's time we were honest with eachother." I sighed. "My timeline, what's so special about it?"

"Why do you just assume they'll be a werewolf anyway?"

...

"My father didn't treat it as a story. He said it was fact. He even claimed to have communed with the beast - to have learned its purpose." Sir Robert explained quickly after chat of a werewolf with her majesty. "I should've listened. His work was hindered - he made enemies. There's a Monastery in the Glen of Saint Catherine. The Brethren opposed my father's investigations."

"Perhaps they thought his work ungodly." The Queen commented.

"That's what I thought. But now I wonder... what if they had a different reason for wanting the story kept quiet?"

"What if they turned from God and worshipped the wolf?" The Doctor asked, watching Father Angelo chant out the window. "And what if they were with us right now?"

"What is the meaning of this?" The Queen ordered.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, they've got my wife."

"Rose! Where's Rose? Where is she?" The Doctor shouted, standing up. "Sir Robert - come on!" He said before we ran from the room.

...

"Where the hell have you been?" Rose shouted as The Doctor kicked down the cellar door.

"Oh, that's beautiful!" I whispered, looking at the wolf.

"Get out!" Sir Robert shouted at everyone as the cage started to break and we ran off.

...

"It could be any form of light modulated species triggered by specific wavelengths - did it say what it wanted?" The Doctor asked when we got inside the house.

"The Queen, the Crown, the throne - you name it."

"Fire!" I looked round to see soldiers shoot at the wolf, who started to stumble.

...

The Doctor squeezed my hand as he finished barricading us inside the library and we stood in silence.

"It's stopped." The Doctor whispered. "It's gone."

"What's stopping it?" I asked calmly.

"Something inside this room. What is it? Why can't it get in?"

"I'll tell you what, though..." Rose began.

"OH!" I shouted suddenly, spinning round, much like The Doctor did. "Staring us right in the face!"

"What is?" The Doctor asked.

"Big mokey boys wearing mistletoe all around them!"

"Oh you're brilliant!" The Doctor exclaimed, kissing me on the head and running up to the door, licking it, ew. "Viscum album, the oil of the mistletoe - it's been worked into the wood like a varnish! How clever was your dad? I love him! Powerful stuff, mistletoe. Bursting with lectins and viscotoxins."

"And the wolf's allergic to it?" Rose asked, glaring at me from out of the corner of her eye.

"Well, it thinks it is. The monkey monk monks need a way of controlling the wolf, maybe they trained it to react against certain things."

"Like mistletoe. Maybe it's jealous nobody will kiss it at Christmas because of it's breath." I chuckled.

"Nevertheless, that creature won't give up, Doctor, and we still don't possess an actual weapon."

"Oh, your father got all the brains, didn't he?"

"Being rude again."

"Rude and not ginger!" I exclaimed, The Doctor grinned at me and Rose frowned.

"How does she know about that?" Rose asked.

"Oh, long story." The Doctor waved off before walking towards the book shelves. "You want weapons? We're in a library. Books! Best weapons in the world. This room's the greatest arsenal we could have." He pulled some books from off the shelf and threw some to me and Rose. "Arm yourself."

"Hold on, what about this?" The Doctor asked, looking at a page in a book. "Hmm, that's the sort of thing. Ooh... Look what your old dad found. Something fell to Earth." He said to Sir Robert as we all walked over to him.

"A spaceship?" Rose asked.

"A shooting star. "In the year of our Lord, 1540, under the reign of King James the Fifth, an almighty fire did burn in the pit." That's the Glen of Saint Catherine just by the Monastery."

"But that's over three hundred years ago. What's it been waiting for?" I asked.

"Maybe just a single cell survived. Adapting slowly down the generations. It survived through the humans. Host after host after host."

"But why does it want the throne?"

"That's what it wants. It said so, the... the Empire of the Wolf."

"Imagine it... the Victorian Age accelerated... starships and missiles fueled by coal and driven by steam... leaving history devastated in its wake..."

"Sir Robert!" The Queen said. "If I am to die here..."

"Don't say that, Your Majesty."

"I would destroy myself rather than let that creature infect me. But that's no matter. I ask only that you find some place of safekeeping for something far older and more precious than myself." She opened her bag and took out a big big diamond.

"Is that the Koh-I-Noor?" Rose asked.

"Oh, yes... the greatest diamond in the world."

"Given to me as the spoils of war. Perhaps its legend is now coming true. It is said that whoever owns it must surely die."

"Well, that's true of anything if you own it long enough. Can I...?" The Queen gave him the diamond and we looked at it closely. "That is so beautiful."

"How much is that worth?"

"They say... the wages of the entire planet for a whole week."

"Good job my mum's not here. She'd be fighting the wolf off with her bare hands for that thing."

"And she'd win."

"Where is the wolf? I don't trust this silence." Sir Robert said.

"Why do you travel with it?" I asked, nodding at the diamond.

"My annual pilgrimage. I'm taking it to Helier and Carew. The Royal Jewellers at Hazelhead. The stone needs recutting."

"Oh, but it's perfect."

"My late husband never thought so."

"Now, there's a fact - Prince Albert kept on having the Koh-I-Noor cut down. It used to be forty percent bigger than this. But he was never happy. Kept on cutting and cutting."

"He always said... the shine was not quite right. But he died with it still unfinished."

"Unfinished... oh, yes!" The Doctor exclaimed, throwing the diamond back to Queen Victoria. "There's a lot of unfinished business in this house. His father's research - your husband, Ma'am, he came here and he sought the perfect diamond - hold on, hold on - all these separate things, they're not separate at all, they're connected! Oh, my head, my head! What if - this house, it's a trap for you - is that right, Ma'am?"

"Obviously."

"At least, that's what the wolf intended. But! What if there's a trap inside the trap?"

"Explain yourself, Doctor."

"What if his father and your husband weren't just telling each other stories. They dared to imagine all this was true. And they planned against it. Laying the real trap not for you... but for the wolf." I looked up at the ceiling, where the wolf layed on a glass dome.

"That wolf there…" I whispered.

"Out! Out! Out!" The Doctor shouted. "Gotta get to the observatory!"

...

"No mistletoe on these doors, your father wanted the wolf to get inside! Get inside I just need time! Is there any way of barricading this?" The Doctor said as we ran into the observatory.

"Just do your work and I'll defend it."

"If we could bind them shut with rope or something!"

"I said I'd find you time, sir."

"Now get inside."

"Good man." The Doctor nodded before shutting the doors.

"See, told you these trainers would come in handy!" I said breathlessly.

"Your Majesty, the diamond."

"For what purpose?"

"The purpose it was designed for." She hands it over.

"Rose! Flo!" The Doctor instructed. "Lift it! Come on!" The three of us struggled, turning the wheel on the telescope before it eventually started to rise

"Is this the right time for stargazing?" Rose asked.

"Yes, it is." The Doctor said as Sir Robert's screams filled our ears.

"You said this thing doesn't work!" I said.

"It doesn't work as a telescope because that's not what it is! It's a light chamber! It magnifies the light rays like a weapon. We've just got to power it up!"

"But there's no electricity!"

"Moonlight! But it needs moonlight! It's made by moonlight!"

"You're seventy percent water but you can still drown. Come on!" The wolf burst through the door and was hit by the light, turning into human form, floating up in the air.

"Make it brighter. Let me go."

...

Later on in The TARDIS, everything was safe. I sat in the library when I heard The Doctor's call.

"Flo, come here a sec!" I got up and followed his voice. The Doctor stood outside a blue door, grinning like mad and nodding at the door.

"It's a door." He said nothing and opened the door. Inside was a big bed covered in purple bed sheets, a massive wardrobe room to the left side of the room and a en suite to the right. "Oh my god." I whispered.

"It's your room."

"My room?" I asked, spinning round and looking at him. "I can stay?"

"I assumed you were anyway." He grinned before I threw myself into his arms, and he hugged me tightly, snuggling his face into my hair. After a minute of silence he whispered, "Who are you Flo?"

**Please Review!**


	4. School Reunion

"Good morning, class. Are we sitting comfortably?" The Doctor asked the class as I sat at the back as his teaching assistant, jotting down notes. I had to wear the tightest black skirt ever, but apparently The TARDIS didn't have anything else appropriate for this situation which I think is utter bullshit, with a white shirt. "So. Physics." He said, scrawling 'physics' across the board before throwing the pen onto the table in front of him. "Physics. Eh? Physics. Phyyyyyyyysics. Physics! Physics. Physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics, physics." He sniffed at the bemused class of kids. "I hope one of you is getting all this down. Um, okay - let's see what you know. Two identical strips of nylon are charged with static electricity and hung from a string so they can swing freely. What would happen if they were brought near each other?" A boy put his hand up. "Yes - uh, what's your name?"

"Milo." The boy replied.

"Milo! Off you go."

"They'd repel each other because they have the same charge."

"Correctamundo! A word I have never used before and hopefully never will again. Question two - I coil up a thin piece of micro wire and place it in a glass of water. Then I turn on the electricity and measure to see if the water's temperature is affected. My question is this; how do I measure the electrical power going into the coil?" Milo's hand shot up again. "Someone else." Nobody responded. "Nope... ? Okay, Milo - go for it."

"Measure the current and PDs in an ampmeter and a voltmeter." Milo replied as I got up slowly and walked to the front of the desk next to The Doctor.

"Two to Milo! Right then, Milo, tell me this; true or false - the greater the dampening of the system, the quicker it loses energy to its surroundings."

"False."

"What is a non-coding DNA?"

"DNA that doesn't code for a protein."

"Sixty-five-thousand-nine-hundred- and-eighty-three times five?" I asked, thinking of the first numbers that popped into my head.

"Three-hundred-and-twenty-nine-thousand-nine-hundred-and-fifteen." The Doctor nodded at me.

"How do you travel faster than light?" The Doctor asked.

"By opening a quantum tunnel with an FTL factor of 36.7 recurring."

...

"These chips taste a bit funny." I mumbled to The Doctor as we sat in the canteen.

"Two days." We looked up and Rose was next to us, wiping the table. "Two days, we've been here."

"Blame your boyfriend, he's the one who put us onto this. And he was right. Boy in class this morning - got a knowledge way beyond planet Earth."

"You eating those chips?"

"Yeah, they're a bit... different." The Doctor remarked and I nodded.

"I think they're gorgeous. Wish I had school dinners like this."

"It's very well behaved, this place. I thought there'd be happy-slapping hoodies. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs. Happy-slapping hoodies with ASBOs and ringtones. Yeah? Yeah? Oh, yeah! Don't tell me I don't fit in. What was your school like?" The Doctor asked me.

"Leadworth?" I frowned. "It's a very quiet little village, most people live well into their nineties. School same as any, just, less fuss was made. It was mainly me, Amy and Mels causing all the trouble and Rory following us around like a lost puppy."

"Aren't you quite the rebel." Rose muttered under her breath before another dinner lady approached us.

"You are not permitted to leave your station during a sitting." She said blandly to Rose.

"I was just talking to these teachers. They doesn't like the chips."

The dinner lady turned to us, "The menu has been specifically designed by the headmaster to improve concentration and performance. Now, get back to work." She turned and walked off, Rose following backwards, looking at us.

"See? This is me." She said, gesturing at her clothes. "The dinner lady."

"I'll have the crumble."

"I'm so gonna kill you." She muttered, turning and walking off but something caught The Doctor's eye, a teacher, talking to a student before he walked off and The Doctor looked back to me.

"How come," I began, dropping my fork onto the plate gently and pushing it away, leaning onto the table and looking at The Doctor. "Rose had to be a dinner lady, and I ended up your assistant?" I asked as we both got up, heading out of the canteen to the classroom.

"I've got to keep a eye on you."

"I'm not a dog!"

...

"But yesterday, I had a twelve-year-old girl give me the exact height of the Walls of Troy... in cubits." One of the teacher's told us as we stood in the staff room.

"And, it's ever since the new headmaster arrived?" I asked.

"Finch arrived three months ago. Next day, half the staff got flu. Finch replaced them with that lot." He nodded over at a group of teachers on the other side of the room. "Except for the teacher you replaced, and that was just plain weird, her winning the lottery like that."

"How's that weird?" The Doctor asked.

"She never played! Said the ticket was posted through her door at midnight."

"Hmm! The world is very strange."

"Excuse me, colleagues," We looked up at the door to see Mr Finch, the headmaster, standing at the door standing with a older woman with brown hair, who The Doctor froze at the sight of her. "- A moment of your time. May I introduce Miss Sarah Jane Smith." He nodded at the woman beside him. "Miss Smith is a journalist, who's writing a profile about me for the Sunday Times. I thought it might be useful for her to get 'a view from the trenches', so to speak. Don't spare my blushes." He nodded at everyone before walking away as Sarah Jane walked over to us.

"Hello!" She said brightly.

"Oh, I should think so!" The Doctor said, mesmirised.

"And, you are... ?" She asked but The Doctor stayed in shock.

"This is John Smith." I said, smiling softly at her.

"John Smith? I used to have a friend who sometimes went by that name."

"Well, it's a very common name!" I chuckled.

"He was a very uncommon man." She sighed. "Sorry, being rude, and you are?" She asked, holding out her hand to me.

"Flo, Flo Maxwell." I grinned at her and shook her hand.

"Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you! Yes! Very nice! More than nice - brilliant!" The Doctor finally said before going back into shock.

"Um... so, um, have you worked here long?"

"No! Um, it's only our second day." I said, trying to distract Sarah Jane from The Doctor's odd expression.

"Oh, you're new, then? So, what do you think of the school? I mean, this new curriculum? So many children getting ill - doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"You don't sound like someone just doing a profile." I giggled.

"Well, no harm in a little investigation while I'm here."

"No. Good for you." The Doctor laughed as Sarah Jane walked off towards some other teachers. "Good for you. Oh, good for you, Sarah Jane Smith." He said proudly.

"Want to explain?" I asked, nudging him in the side before he turned round to me and told me all about his Sarah Jane Smith.

...

"The Doctor opened a fire door and me, him, Rose and Mickey walked silently through into the school.

"Oh, it's weird seeing school at night. It just feels wrong." Rose said. "When I was a kid, I used to think all the teachers slept in school."

"All right, team." The Doctor began before cringing, "Oh, I hate people who say 'team'. Um... 'gang'. Um... 'comrades'. Uh... anyway, Rose, go to the kitchen and get a sample of that oil. Mickey, the new staff are all Maths teachers, go and check out the Maths department. Me and Flo gonna look in Finch's office. Be back here in ten minutes." He said before grabbing my hand and pulling me off towards Finch's office.

...

After hearing some noises, we found ourselves inside the gym, watching as Sarah Jane backed out of a room and slammed the door. She turned around slowly and looked at The Doctor in horror as I stood slightly behind him as he clutched onto my arm behind him.

"Hello, Sarah Jane." The Doctor said softly.

"It's you. Oh... Doctor..." Sarah Jane whispered, smiling and walking forward. "Oh, my God, it's you, it's... it's... you've regenerated."

"Half a dozen times since we last met."

"You look... incredible."

"So do you."

"I got old."

"You're not old." I mumbled as The Doctor gently let go of me and let me walk round slowly next to him.

"What're you doing here?"

"Well... UFO sightings, school gets record results - I couldn't resist. What about you?"

"Same." They both laughed before Sarah Jane's laugh dropped. "I thought you'd died. I waited for you and you didn't come back, and I thought you must've died."

"I lived. Everyone else died."

"What do you mean?"

"Everyone died, Sarah."

"I can't believe it's you." She whispered before Mickey's screams filled the air. "Okay! Now I can!" The Doctor grabbed mine and Sarah Jane's hands before running out of the gym and towards the screaming, running into Rose.

"Did you hear that?" She asked, before noticing Sarah Jane. "Who's she?"

"Rose, Sarah Jane! Sarah Jane, Rose." Sarah Jane and Rose shook hands and I tried not to laugh as Sarah Jane smiled fakely at her.

"Hi. Nice to meet you." She looked at The Doctor. "You can tell you're getting older - your assistants are getting younger."

"I'm not his assistant." She scoffed as The Doctor and Sarah Jane headed off to find Mickey. "Flo!" She hissed at me. "Why did you let him drag just anyone along with him?"

"But she's not just anyone." Rose stared at me and I shrugged. "She seems nice." I said before walking off after them. I ran up to them to hear the rest of a rant from The Doctor to Mickey as he stood in a cupboard full of vacuum pack rats.

"Nine, maybe ten years old. I'm seeing pigtails, frilly skirt."

"Hello, can we focus? Does anyone notice anything strange about this? Rats in school?" Rose asked.

"Well, obviously they use them in Biology lessons. They dissect them. Or maybe you haven't reached that bit yet. How old are you?"

"Excuse me, no one dissects rats in school anymore. They haven't done that for years. Where are you from, the dark ages?" Rose spat.

"Um, we still used them in Leadworth." I said sheepishly, earning a smile from Mickey and The Doctor.

"Exactly." Sarah Jane smiled at me.

"Yeah but she's from some little village-"

"Anyway, moving on." The Doctor interupted Rose. "Everything started when Mr Finch arrived. We should go and check his office." He said before we headed out down a corridor, me, The Doctor and Mickey at the back and Sarah Jane and Rose at the front.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but who exactly are you?" Rose asked.

"Sarah Jane Smith. I used to travel with the Doctor."

"Oh! Well, he's never mentioned you."

"Oh, I must've done! Sarah Jane! Mention her all the time."

"Oh I remember!" I said, remembering back to when The Doctor had mentioned some people during our visit at the New Earth hospital. "Sarah Jane of course!"

"Well he's never mentioned her to me!"

"What, not even once? He didn't mention me once?" Sarah Jane scoffed as they rushed off, and we headed up to the door of Mr Finch's office. The Doctor soniced the door and opened it slowly as we peered in cautiously.

"Rose... you know you used to think all the teachers slept in the school... ? Well... they do." I whispered, looking at the ceiling and nodding at 13 bat like creatures hanging from the ceiling. We all retreated slowly and The Doctor locked the door behind us.

...

We hurried out to the front of the school and Mickey started panicking.

"I am not going back in there. No way." He said breathlessly.

"Those were teachers!" Rose exclaimed.

"When Finch arrived, he brought with him seven new teachers, four dinner ladies and a nurse. Thirteen. Thirteen big bat people. Come on." The Doctor said, turning to go back inside.

"Come on- you've got to be kidding!"

"I need the TARDIS. I've got to analyze that oil from the kitchen."

"I might be able to help you, there. I've got something to show you!" Sarah Jane grabbed The Doctor by the arm and towards the car park. She ran up to a car and unlocked it, opening up the boot and pulling the blanket off something covered, to reveal a metal dog.

"K9!" The Doctor said in delight. "Flo Maxwell, Rose Tyler, Mickey Smith - allow me to introduce K9- well, K9 Mark III to be precise."

"He's beautiful." I whispered as Rose gave the dog a odd look.

"Why does he look so... disco?" She asked.

"Oi! Listen, in the year five thousand, this was cutting edge! What's happened to him?"

"Oh, one day, he just... nothing!" Sarah Jane sighed.

"Well, didn't you try and get him repaired?"

"Well, it's not like getting parts for a mini-metro! Beside, the technology inside him could rewrite human science. I couldn't show him to anyone!"

"Ooh, what's the nasty lady done to you? Eh?"

"Look, no offense but could you two just stop petting for a minute? Never mind the tin dog, we're busy!"

...

Me, Sarah Jane and The Doctor sat at a table with K9 as Rose and Mickey stood by the counter. I smiled at The Doctor and Sarah Jane reminisced.

"I thought of you on Christmas Day. This Christmas just gone? Great big spaceship overhead - I thought, 'Oh, yeah. Bet he's up there'." Sarah Jane said.

"So did I actually." I mumbled.

"Right on top of it, yeah." The Doctor replied to both of us.

"And Rose?" Sarah Jane asked cautiously.

"She was there too."

"Did I do something wrong? Because you never came back for me. You just... dumped me."

"I told you. I was called back home and in those days humans weren't allowed."

"I waited for you. I missed you."

"Oh, you didn't need me! You were getting on with your life."

"I think you were her life." I said. The Doctor looked up and Sarah Jane nodded.

"You know what the most difficult thing was?" Sarah Jane sighed. "Coping with what happens next, and with what doesn't happen next. You took me to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, you showed me supernovas, intergalactic battles and then you just dropped me back on Earth. How could anything compare to that?"

"All those things you saw - do you want me to apologize for that?"

"No, but we get a taste of that splendour... and then we have to go back."

"But look at you, you're investigating. You found that school - you're doing what we always did."

"You could've come back."

"I couldn't."

"Why not?" Sarah Jane whispered. "It wasn't Croydon - where you dropped me off, it wasn't Croydon!"

"Where was it?"

"Aberdeen."

"Right. That's next to Croydon, isn't it?" Me and Sarah Jane looked at each other, sniggering before K9 sprung into life. "Oh, hey! Now we're in business!" He jumped to his feet and stood in front of K9.

"Master!"

"He recognizes me!"

"Affirmative."

"Rose, give us the oil." The Doctor said as Rose and Mickey walked off, passing him the oil.

"I wouldn't touch it, though, that dinner lady got all scalged."

"I'm no dinner lady. And I don't often say that." He said, smearing the oil over a sensor. "Here we go. Come on, boy. Here we go."

"Oil. Ex- ex- ex- extract ana- an- analysing..."

"Listen to it, man! That's a voice!" Mickey grinned.

"Careful! That's her dog!" I said before Sarah Jane smiled at me.

"Confirmation of analysis - substance is Krillitane Oil."

"They're Krillitanes." The Doctor said, shocked.

"Is that bad?" Me and Rose both asked.

"Very. Think of how bad things could possibly be, and add another suitcase full of bad."

"And what are... Krillitanes?" Sarah Jane asked.

"They're a composite race. Just like your culture is a mixture of traditions from all sorts of countries - people you've invaded or have been invaded by, you've got bits- bits of Viking, bits of France, bits of whatever - the Krillitanes are the same. An amalgam of the races they've conquered. But they take physical aspects as well. They cherry-pick the best bits from the people they destroy. That's why I didn't recognize them. The last time I saw Krillitanes, they looked just like us except they had really long necks."

"What're they doing here?" Rose asked.

"It's the children. They're doing something to the children."

...

"How many of us have there been, travelling with you?" Rose asked as me, her and The Doctor left the chip shop, The Doctor walking ahead.

"Does it matter?"

"Yeah, it does, if I'm just the latest in a long line."

"As opposed to what?" The Doctor stopped at turned round, staring at her angry and hurt whilst I stood next to her, holding onto the edges of my sleeves.

"I thought you and me were... but I obviously got it wrong. I've been to the year five billion, right, but this... now this is really seeing the future. You just leave us behind."

"900 years of time and space, there's gonna be others." I mumbled.

"OH SHUTUP FLO!" She shouted at me, earning a glare from The Doctor. "Is that what's going to happen to us?"

"No. Not to you."

"But Sarah Jane... you were that close to her once, and now... you never even mention her."

"Why not?" I asked softly.

"I don't age. I regenerate. But humans decay. You wither and you die." He looked at me. "Imagine watching that happen to someone who you-" He stopped suddenly.

"What, Doctor?" I asked before Rose coughed, bringing his attention back to her.

"You can spend the rest of your life with me." He said to Rose. "But I can't spend the rest of mine with you. I have to live on. Alone. That's the curse of the Time Lords."

"And what about her?" Rose nodded at me. The Doctor just stared back at her before turning round and walking off.

...

Me and Sarah Jane sat at her kitchen table at Bannerman Road, looking out the window into the night sky at the stars.

"How did you meet The Doctor then?" She asked as she took a sip of tea.

"He saved my life."

"He'll do more than that, just you wait." Sarah Jane smiled fondly. "That mans my best friend, and I can see from the way he looks at you how much you mean to him."

"He doesn't really want me travelling with him."

"Sorry?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"Rose is obviously in love with him, she certainly doesn't want me with them. When I first met him, and then when we met again, he kept going on about my timeline. How I was something important to the universe, which I'm not."

"This is The Doctor we're talking about, if he says that, then you are. But being important to the universe doesn't mean travelling with him, time can be rewritten."

"What do you mean?" I asked curiously as she took another sip of tea.

"What I'm saying is... if you ever find yourself being thrown out the doors by Rose, there will always be a place for you here, if you want it."

"Thank you." I whispered.

...

"Flo, Rose and Sarah, you go to the Maths room. Crack open those computers, I need to see the hardware inside. Here, you might need this." The Doctor handed the sonic to Sarah Jane, as I smirked at Rose's expression. "Mickey - surveillance. I want you outside."

"Just stand outside?"

"Here, take these - you can keep K9 company." She said, chucking him the car keys.

"Don't forget to leave the window open a crack." The Doctor called back.

"But he's metal!"

"I didn't mean for him."

"What're you gonna do?" I asked as we walked towards the school.

"It's time I had a word with Mr Finch."

...

"It's not working!" Sarah Jane said as she tried to use the sonic on the computers.

"Give it to me." Rose muttered before I mouthed 'the button' to Sarah Jane and it started to work.

"Used to work first time in my day."

"Well, things were a lot simpler back then." Rose said.

"Rose, can I give you a bit of advice?" Sarah Jane asked, standing up from under the desk.

"I've got a feeling you're about to."

"I know how intense a relationship with the Doctor can be, and I don't want you to feel I'm intruding-"

"I don't feel threatened by you if that's what you mean."

"Right. Good. Because, I'm not interested in picking up where we left off."

"No? With the big sad eyes and the robot dog? What else were you doing last night?"

"I'm not, because I can see there's someone else a lot more important in his life."

"Yes, I am." Rose said.

"I was just saying how hard it was adjusting to life back on Earth..." Sarah Jane said between gritted teeth.

"The thing is... when you two met... they'd only just got rid of rationing. No wonder all that space stuff was a bit too much for ya."

"I had no problem with space stuff. I saw things you wouldn't believe."

"Try me."

"Guys don't." I said.

"Mummies."

"I've met ghosts."

"Robots. Lots of robots."

"Please, guys!"

"Slitheen. In Downing Street."

"Daleks!"

"Met the Emperor." Rose scoffed.

"Anti-Matter monsters."

"Gas masked zombies."

"Real living dinosaurs!"

"Real living werewolf!"

"The Loch Ness Monster!"

"SHUTUP!" I shouted, tears in my eyes before The Doctor walked in and looked at me. "Sorry, I tried to stop them..." I sighed as he walked over, giving me a hug.

...

"I can't shift it." The Doctor muttered as me and Sarah Jane watched him rip some wires.

"I thought the sonic screwdriver could open anything?" Sarah Jane asked.

"Anything except a deadlock seal. There's gotta be something inside here. What're they teaching those kids?"

"You wanted the program - there it is." Sarah Jane said and me and The Doctor looked round to see some alien program completely in green running across all the screens and projectors.

"Some sort of code..." The Doctor mumbled. "No... no, they can't be..." He whispered. "The Skasis Paradigm. They're trying to crack the Skasis Paradigm."

"The Skasis what?" Rose asked, nobody noticing she had reappeared.

"The... God-maker. The universal theory. Crack that equation and you've got control of the building blocks of the universe. Time and space and matter, yours to control."

"What, and the kids are like a giant computer?"

"Yes. And their learning power is being accelerated by the oil! That oil from the kitchens, it works as a- as a... conducting agent. Makes the kids cleverer."

"But that oil's on the chips. I've been eating them."

"What's fifty-nine times thirty-five?"

"Two thousand and sixty five." She said. "Oh my God..."

"But why use children? Can't they use adults?" Sarah Jane asked.

"No, it's gotta be children. The God-maker needs imagination to crack it. They're not just using the children's brains to break the code... they're using their souls."

"Let the lesson begin." We turned round to be faced with Mr Finch. "Think of it, Doctor - with the Paradigm solved, reality becomes clay in our hands. We can shape the universe and improve it."

"Oh yeah? The whole of creation with the face of Mr Finch. Call me old fashioned, but I like things as they are."

"You act like such a radical, and yet all you want to do is preserve the old order. Think of the changes that could be made if this power was used for good."

"What, by someone like you?"

"No... someone like you. The Paradigm gives us power, but you could give us wisdom. Become a God. At my side. Imagine what you could do - think of the civilizations you could save. Perganon, Assinta... your own people, Doctor. Standing tall. The Time Lords... reborn."

"Doctor, don't listen to him." I said as he turned to me, Rose and Sarah Jane. "And you could be with him throughout eternity. Young... fresh... never wither, never age... never die. Their lives are so fleeting. So many goodbyes. How lonely you must be, Doctor. Join us."

"Time doesn't work like that!" I snapped.

"I could save everyone...I could stop the war..."

"You could save your people?" Rose asked happily.

"No. The universe has to move forward. Pain and loss - they define us as much as happiness or love." Sarah Jane begged. "Whether it's a world, or a relationship... everything has its time. And everything ends."

"Sarah Jane's right Doctor." I whispered before The Doctor turned round, picking up a chair and throwing it at the screen.

...

"You've redecorated!" Sarah Jane smiled, looking round The TARDIS. It had been a long day but with the help of K9, the Krillitanes were gone.

"Do you like it?"

"Oh, I, I do. Yeah. I preferred it as it was, but uh... yeah. It'll do!"

"I love it." Rose mumbled.

"Doctor... ?" I nudged him, nodding at Sarah Jane.

"Um - we're about to head off, but... you could come with us."

"No... I can't do this anymore." Sarah Jane said, shaking her head. "Besides, I've got a much bigger adventure ahead! Time I stopped waiting for you and found a life of my own."

"Can I come?" Mickey asked, causing me to smile brightly. "No, not with you, I mean... with you." He nodded at The Doctor. "Cause I'm not the tin dog. And I wanna see what's out there."

"Oh, go on, Doctor. Sarah Jane Smith - a Mickey Smith. You need a Smith on board!" Sarah Jane said as I noticed Rose mouth 'no' at The Doctor.

"Okay then, I could do with a laugh."

"Rose, is that okay?" Mickey asked.

"No, great. Why not?" She said.

"Well, I'd better go." She said before pulling me over to one side. "The offer still stands, but if I were you, I'd stay."

"Better late than never, she'll claw my eyes out just for speaking with him." She smiled as we walked over to the doors, The Doctor following.

"It's daft. But I haven't ever thanked you for that time, and like I said - I wouldn't have missed it for the world." Sarah Jane said.

"Something to tell the grandkids."

"Oh, I think it'll be someone else's grandkids now."

"Right. Yes, sorry - I didn't get a chance to ask. You haven't... there hasn't been anyone... ? You know... ?"

"Well... there was this one guy. I travelled with him for a while. But he was a tough act to follow." I smiled at The Doctor.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

"Oh, it's not goodbye-"

"Say it, please. This time. Say it."

"Goodbye. My Sarah Jane." He said, hugging her before letting go, smiling. She stepped back a bit and nodded at me to The Doctor.

"I don't want to get in the way." I began, "And I can see that I'll get in the way of things with Rose..."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You know what." I sighed. "I constantly feel like I'm only here with you because of my timeline, as you always go on about, it's not fair."

"Of course you're not." He sighed before turning jokey, jabbing me in the ribs. "There's a couple onboard and I can't be on my own." He smiled before heading back inside The TARDIS.

"He needs you." Sarah Jane sighed, giving me a hug. "You know where to find me if you need me."

"Goodbye Sarah Jane." I whispered before turning back into The TARDIS.


	5. The Girl In The Fireplace

The Doctor, Rose, Mickey and I stepped out of The TARDIS and into a disuesed room full of junk, a spaceship, with a window staring out at the stars.

"It's a spaceship! Brilliant, I got a spaceship on my first go!" Mickey grinned.

"Looks kind of abandoned... Anyone on board?" Rose asked.

"Nah, nothing here. Well! Nothing dangerous. Well! Not that dangerous. You know what, I'll just have a quick scan... in case there's anything dangerous." He said, walking over to a control panel and tapping some buttons

"So, what's the date? How far we gone?" I asked.

"About three thousand years into your future, give or take." He said before pulling a switch, the lighting turning on and the roof opening to show a spectacular view of the stars. "Fifty-first century. Diagmar Cluster, you're a long way from home, Mickey! Two and a half galaxies!"

"Mickey Smith, meet the universe. See anything you like?" Rose asked as they looked out the window.

"That's beautiful." I whispered as The Doctor slipped his hand inside mine.

"It's so realistic!" He exclaimed.

"Dear me, had some cowboys in here! Got a ton of repair work going on." The Doctor muttered, looking over at a screen with a diagram of the ship on it. "Now that's odd, look at that. All the warp engines are going... full capacity! There's enough power running through this ship to punch a hole in the universe... and we're not moving. So where's all that power going?"

"Where'd all the crew go?" I asked as The Doctor leant forward, tweaking one of the controls.

"Good question, no life readings on board."

"Well, we're in deep space; they didn't just nip out for a quick fag." Rose said sarcastically.

"Nope, checked all the smoking pods." The Doctor looked round and sniffed. "Can you smell that?"

"Yeah, someone's cooking." I muttered.

"Sunday roast, definitely!" Mickey said before The Doctor pressed another button, opening up a door to reveal a wall with a lit fireplace in, the other side looking like centuries ago.

"Well, there's something you don't see in your average spaceship. Eighteenth century! French! Nice mantel." The Doctor said, walking over and leaning down, pointing the sonic at the mantel piece. "Not a hologram. Not even a reproduction, this actually is an eighteenth century French fireplace. Double-sided, there's another room through there."

"There can't be, that's the outer hull of the ship, look." Rose said, looking out of the window and into space.

"Hello!" The Doctor said. I looked back round and crouched down next to him to me met by a little girl with long blonde hair in a nighty.

"Hello..."

"What's your name?"

"Reinette.

"Reinette, that's a lovely name." I said to her, smiling. "Can you tell me where you are at the moment, Reinette?"

"In my bedroom."

"And where's your bedroom? Where do you live, Reinette?" The Doctor asked.

"Paris, of course!"

"Paris, right!" I said, digging him in the ribs.

"Monsieur, Mademoiselle what are you doing in my fireplace?"

"Oh, it's just a routine... fire check." I said, waving my hand.

"Can you tell me what year it is?" The Doctor asked.

"Of course I can! Seventeen hundred and twenty seven."

"Right, lovely! One of my favourites... August is rubbish though. Stay indoors. Okay, that's all for now. Thanks for your help. Hope you enjoy the rest of the fire. Night night!"

"Goodnight Monsieur, Mademoiselle." Me and The Doctor stood up, smiling.

"You said this was the fifty-first century." Mickey said in confusion.

"I also said this ship was generating enough power to punch a hole in the universe. I think we just found the hole. Must be a spatio-temporal hyperlink."

"What's that?"

"No idea. Just made it up. Didn't wanna say 'magic door'."

"And on the other side of the 'magic door' is France in 1727?" I asked.

"Well, she was speaking French. Right period French, too." The Doctor said as he took of his coat, throwing it into the corner of the room.

"She was speaking English, I heard her!"

"That's the TARDIS - translates for ya." Rose explained.

"Even French?"

"Yep."

"Gotcha!" The Doctor shouted, holding onto the fireplace as the wall turned and he dissapeared.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted. Moments later, he reappeared again with a drone wearing a mask. He turned round, grabbing a fire extinguisher and freezing the man.

"Excellent, ice gun!" Mickey said as he chucked it to Rose.

"Fire extinguisher." He corrected.

"Where did that thing come from?" I asked, nodding at the drone.

"Here."

"So why is it dressed like that?" Mickey asked, looking at it's clothing.

"Field trip to France, some kind of basic camouflage protocol - nice needlework! Shame about the face." He pulled of the mask to reveal a glass dome on top of the neck with gold mechanical cogs whirring round.

"Oh, you are beautiful!" I whispered.

"Lot of things you think are beautiful lately eh? New Earth, the Werewolf, K9." The Doctor grinned, nudging me in the side.

"Shutup." I muttered as he turned his attention back to the drone.

"No really, you are, you're gorgeous! Look at that! Space age clockwork, I love it! I've got chills! Listen, seriously, I mean this from the heart - and, by the way, count those -" He crossed over both sides of his chest. "It would be a crime, it would be an act of vandalism to disassemble you." He held up his sonic at the drone. "But that won't stop me." The drone powered back up and teleported away. "Short range teleport, can't have got far. Could still be on board -"

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"Don't go looking for it!" The Doctor said.

"Where're you going?"

"Back in a sec." He said, turning back round of the fireplace. I waited a few moments before he returned again. He stepped off the fireplace and grinned at me before his face dropped. "Where's Rose and Mickey?" I looked round, they were gone!

"They were here!"

"Every time, every time, it's rule one - Don't wander off! I tell them, I do, rule one! There could be anything on this ship!" He sighed as we headed off down a corridor to be faced with a white horse. The Doctor rolled his eyes as I grinned and mounted the horse.

"Come on, you can give me a lift." I grinned. The Doctor smirked and took the lead on the horse, walking us through the corridors before we eventually found Rose and Mickey looking through a window.

"Blimey, look at this guy. Who does he think he is?"

"King of France." The Doctor said as we stopped behind them.

"Oh, here's trouble. What you been up to?" Rose asked, not looking around.

"Oh, this and that. Became the imaginary friend of a future French aristocrat... picked a fight with a clockwork man... Oh, and we met a horse." Rose and Mickey span round to look at us. Rose looked at me disgusted whilst Mickey just laughed.

"What's a horse doing on a spaceship?" Mickey asked.

"Mickey, what's pre-Revolutionary France doing on a spaceship? Get a little perspective." The Doctor said.

"See these?" The Doctor pointed at the window. "They're all over the place. On every deck. Gateways to history. But not just any old history..." He pointed at a woman entering the room on the other side of the window. !Hers. Time window... deliberately arranged along the life of one particular woman. A spaceship from the fifty-first century stalking a woman from the eighteenth. Why?"

"Who is she?" I asked.

"Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, known to her friends as Reinette. One of the most accomplished women who ever lived."

"So has she got plans of being the Queen, then?"

"No, he's already got a Queen. She's got plans of being his mistress."

"Oh, I get it. Camilla." Rose laughed.

"I think this is the night they met. The night of the Yew Tree ball. In no time at flat, she'll get herself established as his official mistress, with her own rooms at the palace... even her own title - Madame de Pompadour."

"Queen must have loved her..."

"Oh, she did. They get on very well."

"The King's wife and the King's girlfriend? "

"France. It's a different planet."

"How long have you been standing there?" Reinette asked, turning round and looking at the drone in the corner of the room. "Show yourself!" It turned round and started to advance towards her. The Doctor grabbed the ice gun from Mickey and pushed open the window and into Reinette's world with Rose and Mickey following.

"Little help off the horse?" I shouted. By the time I got off the horse, Rose and Mickey were running through again and off into the spaceship.

"Sorry, gotta go find it!" Mickey shouted back to me. And then eventually The Doctor appeared again, pulling my hand through and into Reinette's world and off again.

...

"And still have begged for moooore... I could've spread my wings and done a thou-" The Doctor staggered into the room where Mickey and Rose were being held whilst I supported him on my shoulder. "Have you met the French?"

"My... GOD, they know how to party." I laughed.

"Oh, look at what the cat dragged in. The Oncoming Storm." Rose spat.

"Oh, you sound just like your mother."

"What've you been doing? Where've you been?" She snapped.

"Well... among other things, I think he invented the banana daiquiri a few centuries early." I said.

"Do you know, they've never even seen a banana before!" The Doctor gasped. "Always take a banana to a party, Rose. Bananas are GOOD." He looked at the drones. "Oh ho ho ho ho, brilliant. It's you!"

"You're our favourite, you are, you are the best!" I laughed.

"Do you know why? 'Cause you're so THICK. You're Mister Thick Thick Thickity Thick Face from Thicktown, Thickania. And so's your dad." He turned to Rose. Do you know what they were scanning Reinette's brain for? Her milometer. They wanna know how old she is. Know why? 'Cause this ship is thirty-seven years old. And they think that when Reinette is thirty-seven, when she's 'complete', then her brain will be compatible. So, that's what you're missing, isn't it?" He stared at one of the drones mockingly. "Hmm? Command circuit. Your computer. Your ship needs a brain. And for some reason - God knows what - only the brain of Madame de Pompadour will do."

"The brain is compatible." One of the droids suddenly said.

"Compatible?" The Doctor asked, approaching it. "If you believe that, you probably believe this is a glass of wine." He pulled off the the mask on the droid and pouring the glass of 'wine' he was holding, causing the drone to power down. "Multigrain anti-oil. If it moves, it doesn't." The Doctor said, automatically sobering up. "Right, you two, that's enough lying about..." He pulled a switch and Rose and Mickey fell out of the bindings holding them onto the table. "Time we got the rest of the ship turned off."

"Are those things safe?" Mickey asked, getting up.

"Yep. Safe. Safe and thick. Way I like them. Okay, all the time windows are controlled from here. I need to close them all down." He felt his pockets. "Zeus plugs. Where are my Zeus plugs?"

"You had them a minute ago, you were using them as castanets."

"Why didn't they just open a time window to when she was thirty-seven?" Rose asked.

"With the amount of damage to these circuits, they'll be lucky to hit the right century. Trial and error after that." He pulled a lever, frowning. "The windows aren't closing. Why won't they close?"

"What's that?" I asked as a pinging sound filled the room.

"I don't know... incoming message?"

"From who?"

"Report from the field... one of them must still be out there with Reinette! That's why I can't close the windows, there's an override!" Suddenly, the drones burst back into life again before the pinging nosie appeared again. "Message from one of your little friends? Anything interesting?"

"She is complete. It begins." The droid said again before they all teleported away.

"One of them must've found the right time window, and now it's time to send in the troops. And this time they're bringing back her head."

...

"There'll be no way back, will there?" I asked as I sat on the floor whilst The Doctor tried to fix a audio link to the time window.

"How did you-"

"Doesn't take a genius, Doctor." I chuckled.

"Guess we'll never find out about your timeline eh?"

"Oh I think this was about it anyway." I whispered.

"No it wasn't. You are so important."

"You sound like Mels." I scoffed. "She always used to say to me, you're important, and one day someone will prove that to you, I know that." I smiled slightly as Rose and Mickey ran in.

"You found it, then?"

"They knew I was coming. They blocked it off. "

"I don't get it. How come they got in there?"

"They teleported - you saw them. As long as the ship and the ballroom are linked, their short-range teleports will do the trick."

"Well, we'll go in the TARDIS!"

"We can't use the TARDIS, we're part of events now."

"Well, can't we just smash through it?"

"Hyperplex this side, plate glass the other. We need a truck."

"We don't have a truck."

"I know we don't have a truck!"

"Well, we've gotta try something!"

"No, smash the glass, smash the time window, they'd be no way back." I stood up slowly, walking over and taking The Doctor's hand.

"You're important, and one day someone will prove that to you, I know that." I whispered, before hugging him.

"You did." He mumbled in my ear.

...

"How long did you wait?" The Doctor asked, squeezing me tightly.

"Five and a half hours!"

"Right, always wait five and a half hours." He grinned. "Where are Rose and Mickey?"

"In The TARDIS." I smiled. "What about Reinette?"

"She's got her whole timeline left. A bit like you." He grinned, running round to The TARDIS and pulling me by the arm. He stuck his tounge out and ran in. I went to go follow him when something caught my eye, in the shadows. I stopped and looked, a flash of blonde curls in the distance, I blinked, and it was gone. I shook my head and walked into The TARDIS.

...

**A/N - Omg thank you so much for the reviews/story alerts/story favourites! I want to apologise for such a slow update for the last chapter, I was really busy despite being on holiday! I will try to update more often guys I promise, reviews help me write! Next up is the Cybermen 2 parter, I'm so so so excited to post it because of stuff that happens! Also, I've decided instead of Love And Monsters (for obvious reasons) I've decided to replace that with Flo finding Sarah Jane again for Invasion of the Bane. Because of things that'll happen, she'll also turn up for some more Sarah Jane events as well as Torchwood after the end of Series 3.**


	6. Rise Of The Cybermen

"And that weird munchkin lady with the big eyes? Do you remember? - the way she looked at you! And then she opens her mouth and fire comes out!" The Doctor started laughing as he and Rose sat on the jump seats, laughing about some story.

"I thought I was gonna get frazzled!" Rose squealed.

"Yeah! One minute she's standing there, and the next minute - rawwwh!"

"Yeah... where- where was that, then? What happened?" Mickey asked as he stood next to me, pushing a button on The TARDIS console.

"Oh, it was on this um... uh, this uh... planet thing, asteroid. It's a long story, you had to be there. Um... what're you doing that for?" He nodded at the button.

"'Cos you told me to... "

"When was that...?"

"About half an hour ago..." I mumbled.

"Um. You can let go now." He smirked before Mickey let go and Rose sniggered.

"Well, how long's it been since he could've stopped?" I asked.

"Ten minutes? Twenty? ... Twenty-nine?"

"You just forgot me!"

"I didn't." I mumbled, squeezing his shoulder.

"No, no, no! I was just- I was just... I was calibrating. I was just... no, I know exactly what I'm doing." The Doctor said.

...

"FLO!" I felt myself being pulled up. I opened my eyes to be faced with The Doctor looking franticly at me.

"What happened?" I asked.

"The last TARDIS in the universe... extinct." The Doctor whispered. "We crashed."

"We can get help, yeah?" Rose asked.

"Where from?"

"Well, we've landed - we've gotta be somewhere."

"We fell out of the vortex, through the void, into nothingness. We're in some sort of no-place... the silent realm... the lost dimension..."

"Otherwise known as London!" Mickey called from the doorway. We followed out after him to be faced with London, by the Thames. "London, England, Earth. Hold on..." He jumped off the wall and over to a bin, taking out a newspaper and looking at it. "First of February this year - not exactly far-flung, is it?"

"So, this is London."

"Yep."

"Your city."

"That's the one."

"Just as we left it."

"Bang on."

"And that includes the zeppelins?" I asked, looking up at the sky, full of zeppelins.

"What the hell...?" Rose muttered.

"That's beautiful." I whispered.

"Oh will you shutup saying everything's beautiful?" Rose muttered.

"Okay. So, it's London with a big international zeppelin festival." Mickey shrugged.

"This is not your world." The Doctor said, glaring at Rose.

"But if the date's the same..." Mickey said confused, before working it out. "It's parallel, right? Am I right? Like a parallel Earth where they've got Zeppelins, am I right? I'm right, aren't I?"

"Must be."

"So, a parallel world where-" Rose began.

"Oh, come on. You see it on films. Like an alternative to our world were everything's the same but a little bit different, like... I dunno - traffic lights are blue, Tony Blair never got elected..."

"And he's still alive..." Rose whispered, staring at a poster with a man on, holding a bottle of pop. "A parallel world and my dad's still alive..." She walked over, with us following, her eyes never leaving her father's image.

"Don't look at it, Rose. Don't even think about it. This is not your world." The Doctor said sternly.

"But he's my dad... and..." She reached out and touched the poster. The picture of Pete sprung to life, saying 'trust me on this'. "Oh, that's weird. But he's real! He's a success! He was always planning these daft little schemes, health-food drinks and stuff. Everyone said they were useless. But he did it." The Doctor grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her round, looking into her eyes.

"Rose, if you've ever trusted me, then listen to me now. Stop looking at it! Your father's dead. He died when you were six months old. That is not your Pete. That is A Pete. For all we know, he's got his own Jackie - his own Rose. His own daughter who is someone else, but not you. You can't see him. Not ever."

...

"I told you to keep an eye on her!" The Doctor said angrily aas Mickey walked into The TARDIS.

"She's all right-"

"She goes wandering off - parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house! All those temptations calling out."

"Oh, so it's just Rose then? Nothing out there to tempt me? Or Flo?"

"Well, I don't know, I can't worry about everything... if I could just get this thing to-" He kicked the console in frustration before grabbing his foot.

"Did that help?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Did that hurt?"

"Yes. Ow." He sighed. "We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power off the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine."

"But... I've seen it in comics. People are hopping from one alternative world to another - it's easy."

"Not in the real world. Used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."

"Then how did we get here?" I asked.

"I dunno. Accident? Should've been impossible - now we're trapped."

"What's that?" I asked as I looked through the grating, spotting a tiny green light underneath the console floor.

"That there - is that a reflection?" The Doctor asked, crouching down and pulling up the grating. "It's a light! Is it? Is that a light? I think that's a light! That's all we need!"

"We've got power! Mickey, we've got power! Ha!" I chuckled.

"It's alive!" The Doctor popped up through the flooring, holding a little green power cell that looked like a shell.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life. But with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside."

"I'm sorry but that _is _beautiful!" I laughed.

"Enough to get us home?"

"Not yet." The Doctor whispered. "I need to charge it up."

"We could go outside and latch it up to the national grid!" Mickey suggested.

"Wrong sort of energy. It's gotta come from our universe."

"But we don't have anything.

"There's me..." The Doctor blew gently on it, and it started to glow brightly. "I just gave away ten years of my life. Worth every second!" He giggled as the light started to fade.

"It's going out - is that okay?" I asked.

"It's on a recharging cycle. It'll loop round, power back up and be ready to take us home in - oh - twenty-four hours?"

"So, that gives us twenty-four hours on a parallel world?" Mickey asked curiously.

"Surely! As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem."

"Let's go and tell her." I sighed as we got up and headed for the door. Outside, Rose sat on a bench by the Thames.

"There you are! You all right? No applause, I fixed it!" The Doctor said as him and Mickey sat on the bench and I stood opposite. He leant over and showed her the power cell. "Twenty-four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He glanced down at her mobile. "What is it?"

"My phone connected. There's this... Cybus Network, it finds your phone. It gave me Internet access." Rose began.

"Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world."

"I don't exist."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"There's no Rose Tyler." She snapped at me before turning back to The Doctor. "I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie... he still married mum... but they never had kids."

"Give me that phone." The Doctor said.

"They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me." She got up and started to walk off. "I've gotta see him."

"You can't." The Doctor said as he and Mickey stood up.

"I just wanna see him."

"I can't let you!

"You just said twenty-four hours!" Rose whined angrily, like a child.

"You can't become their daughter, that's not the way it works! Mickey, tell her."

"Twenty-four hours, yeah?" Mickey asked, beggining to head the other way.

"Where're you going?"

"Well, I can do what I want!"

"I've got the address and everything." Rose called.

"Stay where you are, both of you! Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!" The Doctor shouted, looking at both of them.

"I just wanna see him."

"Yeah, I've got things to see and all."

"Like WHAT?"

"Well, you don't know anything about me, do ya? It's always about Rose. I'm just a spare part." Mickey walked off and I started to follow.

"Flo!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Go on then." I nodded at Rose. "No choice, is there? You can only chase after one of us, and it's never gonna be me, is it?"

"Back here in twenty-four hours!" The Doctor said, running after Rose.

"Yeah. If we haven't found something better." I mumbled to myself before catching up with Mickey.

...

"Am we all right to get past?" Mickey asked the soldier.

"Yeah. No bother. Curfew doesn't start 'til ten."

"There's a curfew?" Mickey asked.

"Course there is. Where've you been living, mate? Up there with the toffs?" The soldier asked, nodding at the zeppelins.

"We wish." I chuckled as the soldier lifted up the barrier for us. "See ya."

...

Mickey knocked on the door three times.

"Who's that there?" His nan called from inside before opening the door. Who is it? I know you're there. Shame on you, tricking an old lady. I've got nothing worth stealing." She jabbed out her walking stick. "And don't think I'm gonna disappear! You're NOT gonna take ME."

"Hi." Mickey whispered.

"Is that you?"

"It's me. I came home."

She reached out to him. "Ricky?"

"It's Mickey."

"I know my own grandson's name. It's Ricky. Now, come here." Mickey leaned forward, hugging her before she pushed him away and whacked him on the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"You stupid boy." She slapped him again. "Where've you been?"

"Ow! Stop hitting me!"

"It's been days and days! I keep hearing all these stories. People disappearing off the streets. There's nothing of it on the download." She pointed at a pod in her ear. "But there're all these rumours, and- and whispers. I thought that God had disappeared you!" Mickey glanced at her staircase, where the carpet was ripped.

"That carpet on the stairs, I told you to get it fixed, you're gonna fall and break your neck."

"Well, you get it fixed for me."

"I should' a done way back. I guess I'm just kinda useless."

"Now, I never said that."

"I am, though. And I'm sorry, gran. I'm so sorry.

"Don't talk like that. Do you know what you need? A nice sit down and a cuppa tea. You got time?"

"For you, I've got all the time in the world."

"You say that, but it's all talk. It's those new friends of yours. I don't trust them."

"What friends are they?" I asked.

"You've brought a friend with you?" His nan asked. "She better not be one of those lot. Don't pretend you don't know, Ricky. You've been seeing them. Mrs Chan told me. Driving about all helter-skelter, in that van."

"What van's that, then?"

"You know full well! Don't play games with me." A blue van drew up sharply behind us with a skid. "Get inside!" A young man jumped out of the van and grabbed me and Mickey by the collars.

"I've been looking for you two everywhere!" He snapped before pushing us into the van and slamming the door before it drove off.

"Ricky, you were the one who told us - you don't contact your family 'cos it puts them in danger! Remember that Jake - you said!" 'Jake' snapped at Mickey.

"Yeah. Ricky said that. Course I did, just testing.

"I saw them. I taped them! They went round Black Friars gathering up the homeless like a child-catcher. They must've took four dozen."

"The vans were hired out to a company called 'International Electromatics'. But I did a protocol search... turns out that's a dummy company established by guess who?" The woman driving called back, from her ID hanging on the mirror, her name was Mrs Moore.

"I dunno, who?" Mickey asked.

"Cybus Industries!" Jake and Mrs Moore said.

"And now we've got evidence!" Mrs Moore said. "Bad news is, they've arrested Thin Jimmy. So that just leaves you." She said to Mickey.

"Leaves me what?"

"The Number One. Top of the list. London's Most Wanted." Jake said, pleased.

"Okay, cool." Mickey nodded before frowning at me.

"Say that again?" I asked.

...

We hopped out the van outside of a house, with one light on.

"There's a light on. There's someone inside the base." Jake said. "Mrs Moore - we've got visitors."

...

Jake and Mrs Moore burst into the kitchen with guns aimed at two copies of me and Mickey, with us behind Jake and Mrs Moore nervously.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mickey's copy, who I presume was Ricky asked.

"What're you two doing there?" Jake asked.

"What are we doing HERE?" Ricky raised his eye brow. "What are we doing THERE?" He pointed a finger at us whilst my copy just smiled.

...

"He's clean. No bugs." Jake said to Rickey as he finished scanning Mickey.

"I told you he was safe." My copy, who I found out was called Mo said as I sat on the work surface with her.

"But this is off the scale." Ricky said, ignoring Mo. "He's flesh and blood - how did that happen?"

"Well, it could be that Cybus Industries have perfected the science of human cloning...? Or your father had a bike?" Mrs Moore asked.

"Your name is Mickey, not Ricky?" Ricky asked.

"Mickey. Dad was Jackson Smith. Used to work at the key cutters in Cliffton's Parade. Went to Spain, never came back."

"I told you they're safe!" Mo said, rolling her eyes.

"But that's MY dad. So... we're brothers?" Ricky asked.

"Be fair. What else could it be?"

"I don't know. But he doesn't just look like me, he is exactly the same. There's something else going on here, Jake."

"So, who are you lot?" I asked.

"We are the Preachers. As in Gospel Truth. You see?" Ricky pointed at his ears. "No ear plugs. While the rest of the world downloads from Cybus Industries, we - WE have got freedom. You're talking to London's Most Wanted. But target Number One is Lumic, and we ARE going to bring him down."

"From your kitchen?" Mickey asked innocently.

"Have you got a problem with that?" Ricky asked.

"No, it's a good kitchen." Mrs Moore's laptop bleeped.

"It's an upload from Gemini."

"Who is Gemini?" I asked.

"The vans are back. They're moving out of Battersea. Looks like Gemini was right. Lumic's finally making a move."

"And we are right behind him. Pack up, we're leaving."

...

"How did you know we were safe?" I muttered to Mo as we drove in the van.

"In this parallel world," She began. "The Doctor wasn't the last time lord, it was The Corsair. I travelled with him when I was 17 years old. We ended up in your parallel world, and I saw people I knew, all a bit different." She sighed. "I left a couple of years later, and joined the Preachers, I've been in your shoes before."

"Right then." I muttered.

...

"I've identified the address. It belongs to Peter Tyler. The Vitex millionaire." Mrs Moore said to me and Mickey.

"Pete Tyler?" Mickey asked.

"He's listed as one of Lumic's henchmen. A traitor to the state."

"But... but... we've gotta get in there." Me and Mickey jumped out the van, sprinting down the field towards The Doctor and Rose being cornered by metal robots.

"Rose!" Mickey shouted as we reached them. "That's not me. That's like... the other one."

"And the other me." I said breathlessly, nodding at Mo.

"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough - there's two Mickey's!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"It's Ricky."

"But there's more of them..." I said, nodding at the robots.

"We're surrounded..." Rose whispered.

"Put the guns down. Bullets won't stop them." The Doctor told Jake as he started firing. He moved forward and pushed the gun away. "No! Stop shooting, now!" He turned to the Cybermen, moving closer to me. "We surrender! Hands up..." We put our hands up. "There's no need to damage us, we're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrade program. Take us to be processed."

"You are rogue elements." One of the Cybermen replied.

"But we surrender!"

"You are incompatible."

"But this is a surrender!" I shouted at them.

"You will be deleted."

"But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!"

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion. Delete. Delete. Delete!"

**a/n - Ok, I know there was hardly any Flo/Doctor dialogue in this chapter but you're gonna love the end of the Age Of Steel, I'm so excited!**

**Please Review!**


	7. Age Of Steel

The Doctor pointed out the power cell, extracting a gold light from it and hitting the Cybermen, disintergrating them.

"What the hell was that?" Ricky asked.

"We'll have that instead - RUN!" The Doctor said, pulling us into the van as Mrs Moore pulled up.

"Everybody in!" She shouted as I hopped in whilst The Doctor tried to get Rose and Pete from running back into the house.

"Finished chatting? Never seen a slower getaway in my life!" Mrs Moore shouted at them as they got inside.

"What was that thing?" Ricky asked, looking at the power cell in The Doctor's hand.

"Little bit of technology from my home." The Doctor said.

"It's stopped glowing. Has it run out?" Mickey asked.

"It's on a revitalising loop. It'll charge back up in about four hours." The Doctor said, putting the power cell inside his pocket.

"Right. So, we don't have a weapon anymore." Ricky said.

"Yeah, we've got weapons. Might not be one of those metal things, but they're good enough for men like him." Jake looked up at Pete.

"Leave him alone! What's he done wrong?" Rose screeched at them.

"Oh, you know - just laid a trap that's wiped out the Government. And left Lumic in charge."

"If I was part of all that, do you think I'd leave my wife inside?" Pete asked, hurt.

"Maybe your plan went wrong. Still gives us the right to execute you, though." Ricky said.

"Talk about executions, you'll make ME your enemy. And take some really good advice - you don't wanna do that." The Doctor spat.

"All the same... we have evidence that says Pete Tyler's been working for Lumic since 20.5." Jake said as Rose stared at Pete, shocked.

"Is that true?" She asked.

"Tell 'em, Mrs M."

"We've got a government mole who feeds us information. Lumic's private files, his South American operations... the lot. Secret broadcasts twice a week." Mrs Moore called back.

"Broadcast from Gemini?" Pete asked.

"And how do you know that?"

"I'm Gemini. That's ME."

"Yeah, well you would say that."

"Encrypted wavelength six-five-seven using binary nine." He said, looking at Jake and Ricky. "That's the only reason I was working for Lumic. To get information. I thought I was broadcasting to the Security Services, and what do I get? Scooby Doo and his gang. They've even got the van!"

"No, no, no! But the Preachers know what they're doing. Ricky said he's London's Most Wanted!" Mickey said.

"Yeah, that's not exactly..." Ricky mumbled.

"Not exactly what?"

"I'm London's Most Wanted for..."

"Parking tickets." Mo smirked.

"They were deliberate! I was fighting the system! Park anywhere, that's me." Rickey said defensively.

"Good policy." The Doctor nodded.

"He does much the same." I smiled.

"I'm the Doctor, by the way, if anyone's interested..."

"And I'm Rose. Hello!" Rose waved.

"Even better. That's the name of my dog. Still - at least I've got the catering staff on my side." Pete sighed.

"I knew you weren't a traitor." Rose said quietly.

"Why's that, then?"

"I just did."

"They took my wife."

"She might still be alive."

"That's even worse. 'Cos that's what Lumic does. He takes the living... and he turns them into those machines."

"Cybermen." The Doctor interupted, getting everyone's attention. "They're called Cybermen. And I'd take those ear-pods off, if I were you." He soniced the ear pods Pete handed over. "You never know... Lumic could be listening. But he's overreached himself. He's still just a businessman. He's assassinated the President. All we need to do is get to the City and inform the authorities. Because I promise you - this ends tonight."

...

Me and Mickey stood outside The TARDIS whilst Rose talked to Pete, the Cybermen were all gone, it had been a long night, and two deaths, I was emotionally exhausted. The Doctor popped his head round the door of The TARDIS.

"I've only got five minutes of power... we've gotta go."

"Here it is! I found it. Not a crease." Mickey smiled, handing The Doctor his suit.

"My suit! Good man! Now then, Jake - we've gotta run. But one more thing; Mrs Moore. Her real name is Angela Price. She's got a husband out there. And children. Find them. Tell them how she died saving the world."

"Also, a man, a time lord, called the Corsair, see if you can track him down, Mo travelled with him, she never got to say goodbye." I said as The Doctor looked at me, stunned. "She told me, in this universe... it was him who survived, not you."

"Right." He mumbled.

"Yeah, course I will." Jake nodded.

"Off we go, then!"

"Uh... thing is, I'm staying." Mickey said.

"You're doing what?" Me and The Doctor both said.

"You can't." Rose whispered.

"It sort of balances out, 'cos this world lost its Ricky. But there's me. And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"That's like me staying here because it doesn't have it's Mo!" I said, a tear going down my face.

"But you can't, you've got your timeline to sort out eh?" He chuckled.

"But you can't stay." Rose sobbed.

"Rose, my gran's here. She's still alive. My old gran - remember her?"

"Yeah."

"She NEEDS me."

"What about me? What if I need you?"

"Yeah, but Rose... you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it? We had something a long time ago, but... not anymore."

"Well- we'll come back. We can travel anywhere, come and see you, yeah?"

"We can't. I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident. We- we fell through a crack in time. When we leave... I've got to close it. We can't ever return." The Doctor said.

"Doctor." Mickey shook his hand.

"Take Rose's phone. It's got the code. Get it out there. Stop those factories." Mickey nodded. "And good luck. Mickey the Idiot." The Doctor walked into The TARDIS.

"Thanks. We've had a laugh though, haven't we?" Rose nodded. "Seen it all, been there and back... who would have thought, me and you off the old estate, flying through the stars?"

"All those years just sitting there... imagining what we'd do one day... We never saw this, did we?" They hugged one final time before Rose walked into The TARDIS. Mickey walked forward and hugged me tightly.

"He's dangerous, be careful, yeah?" I pulled back and smiled tearily at him.

"I know." I whispered before walking into The TARDIS.

...

I stood a few metres away from The TARDIS on the lower level of the pitch black estate, finishing off a fag, never have smoked really, but this was a funny day. I dropped it on the ground and squashed it with my shoe when The Doctor appeared next to me, in his black suit still.

"Flo-"

"I'm fine."

"I'm sorry."

"You know what?" I span round and looked at him, tears in my eyes. "Why the bloody hell did I come with you in the first place? Because my whole life, men have just trampled all over me. Suddenly you turn up and it's all, your timeline and all this bullshit. So go on, why don't you go back to your precious Rose hm? And I'll just carry on with my life, like I always have to. Why do you even bother saving me?"

"Why do I even bother- what?" He spluttered, getting angry.

"No think Doctor." I spat. "All you ever say is, oh timeline this and timeline that, but now I'm starting to think that's the only reason you save me from the bloody alien shit that you get me into! You don't really want me to travel with you, it's just so I don't go wandering off and fucking time up! Why don't you realise you're probably wrong? I'm nothing special, and believe me, I've done nothing to the universe, and never will-" The Doctor grabbed me by my waist and pulled me forward, kissing me on the lips. He slowly let go and looked into my eyes.

"Flo-"

"Don't." I said, walking away and into The TARDIS.

**A/N - Ok, I know I cut this short but everything else would have been exactly the same as before, so I cut it out. I was so excited about the ending. Now, news. I tried to write the Ood 2 parter with Flo, but I couldn't seem to fit her in, it just seemed weird. So, after The Idiot's Lantern, we're gonna have Invasion of The Bane, then another SJA adventure, the Revenge of the Slitheen 2 parter before coming back for Fear Her. **

**Please Review!**


	8. The Idiot's Lantern

"I thought we'd be going for the Vegas era, you know- the white flares and the..." Rose growled. "Chest hair." We stood outside The TARDIS in matching dresses.

"You are kidding, aren't you?" The Doctor asked, popping his head out the door. "You wanna see Elvis, you go in the late 50's! The time before burgers." He dissapeared again. "When they called him 'the Pelvis' and he still had a waist. What's more, you see him in style!" He said before he rode out of The TARDIS in a blue moped with a side car attached.

"You goin' my way, doll?" He asked with a Elvis impression.

"Is there any other way to go, daddy-o? Straight from the fridge, man!" Rose laughed, putting another helmet on and getting on the back as I jumped into the side car.

"You alright down there?" She laughed sarcastically to which I just ignored.

"Hey, you speak the lingo!" The Doctor said to Rose.

"Yeah well... me, mum, Cliff Richard movies every Bank Holiday Monday."

"Ah, Cliff! I knew your mother'd be a Cliff fan." He said as we drove down the street.

"Where we off to?"

"Ed Sullivan TV Studios, Elvis did 'Hound Dog' on one of the shows, there were loads of complaints. Bit of luck, we'll just catch it."

"And that'll be TV studios in, what - New York?"

"That's the one!" He said as a red bus drove past and unions flags hung from the surrounding houses.

"Digging that New York vibe!" I laughed.

"Well... this COULD still be New York, I mean this looks very New York to me... sort of... Londony New York, mind.."

"What are all the flags for?" Rose asked as we pulled up and got off/out.

"The great occasion? What d'you mean?" The Doctor asked a man taking telly's out of a van.

"Where've you been living, out in the Colonies? Coronation, of course."

"What Coronation's that, then?"

"What d'you mean? THE Coronation." He turned to Rose.

"The Queen's. Queen Elizabeth!"

"Oh! Oh, is this 1953?"

"Last time I looked. Time for a lovely bit of pomp and circumstance, what we do best."

"Look at all the TV aerials... looks like everyone's got one. That's weird, my nan said tellies were so rare they all had to pile into one house." Rose said, looking at all the chimneys.

"Not round here, love. Magpie's Marvellous Tellies, only five quid a box."

"Oh but this is a BRILLIANT year! Classic! Technicolour, Everest climbed, everything off the ration-" He put on a very BBC british accent. "The Nation throwing off the shadows of war and looking forward to a happier, brighter future!" I laughed before a woman started shouting.

"Someone help me, please! Ted!" We looked over to a man being bundled into a car.

"Leave him alone, it's my husband!"

"What's going on?" The Doctor asked as we ran over.

"Oi, what are you doing?" A young boy asked as he ran out.

"Police business, now get out of the way, sir!" One of the men said.

"Who did they take, do you know him?" Rose asked the boy.

"Must be Mr Gallagher..."

"It's happening all over the place. They're turning into monsters..." A older man stormed out of the house.

"Tommy! Not one word! Get inside now!"

"Sorry, I'd better do as he says..." He turned and went back inside.

...

They'd taken Tommy's nan. The Doctor had gone, so I decided to make use of myself.

"Oh, I, I'm sorry miss, I'm afraid you're too late. I was just about to lock the door." Magpie said as I walked into his shop.

"Yeah? Well, I wanna buy a telly."

"Come back tomorrow. Please."

"You'll be closed, won't ya?"

"Huh?"

"The coronation..."

"Yes, yes, of course. The big day." He said as I walked over to the counter.

"I'm sure you'll find somewhere to watch it. Please go."

"Seems to me half of London's got a television, since you're practically giving them away."

"I have my reasons."

"And what are they?"

"Hungry! Hungry!" A woman on the television shouted.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It's just a television. One of these modern programmes. Now, I really do think you should leave! Right now!"

"Not until you've answered my questions. How comes your televisions are so cheap?"

"It's my patriotic duty. Seems only right that as many folk as possible get to watch the coronation. We may be losing the Empire but we can still be proud! Twenty million people they reckon'll be watching! Imagine that! And twenty million people can't be wrong, eh? So why don't you get yourself back home and get up, bright and early, for the big day?"

"I'm not leaving til I know what's going on here Magpie." I snarled at him.

"I need to close."

"Mr Magpie, something's happening out there. Ordinary people are being struck down and changed, and the only new thing in the house is a television. Your television. What's going on?"

"I knew this would happen. I knew I'd be found out."

"All right, then, it's just you and me... you gonna come clean, then? What's really in it for you?"

"For me? Perhaps some peace."

"From what?"

"From HER." He looked over at the woman on the telly.

"That's just a woman on the telly, that's just a programme."

"What a pretty little girl." The woman said.

"Bloody hell." I whispered.

"Yes - I'm talking to you, little one, before you ask. Unseasonably chilly for the time of year, don't you think?"

"What are you?"

"I'm the Wire. And I'm hungrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyy...!"

...

I found myself walking along the street, not knowing what had really happened, all I could remember last was my face being eaten by that thing in Magpie's television. I looked over and saw Rose and The Doctor celebrating. I caught The Doctor's eye and watched him walk over to me, picking me up and hugging me. He put me down and smiled before frowning at my expression.

"I can't do this."

"Flo-"

"No especially after what happened after with the Cybermen." he blushed slightly at my mention of him kissing me. "I'm not leaving, I just need some space. I just want to go see Sarah Jane for a bit."

"Ok." He cleared his throat.

"Don't think I'm abandoning you time lord, I'm not letting you out of my sight." I chuckled, kissing him on the cheek.

**A/N - Ok, up now is the Invasion of the Bane and Revenge of the Slitheen! I was so happy writing these two, so 3 chapters will be updated tonight as I've wrote them all tonight (this one, Invasion of the Bane and Revenge of the Slitheen part 1) Enjoy!**

**Please Review!**


	9. Invasion Of The Bane

"Bubble Shock." I mumbled, watching the advert on Mr Smith. Sarah Jane was going to get one hell of a shock when she found out her super computer was opening up for me. "Noticed anything unusual about it yet Mr Smith?" I asked, glancing out at a man and a young girl moving in across the street.

"I can not detect any alien authority without a proper sample to analyse."

"Guess we're gonna have to wait til Sarah Jane gets back." I sighed before noticing a small green car pull up in the driveway. "Which is any second now." I listened as the door unlocked and then slammed, and the sound of footsteps headed towards the attic. The door creaked open and-

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"Oh cheers Sarah Jane." I grinned at her. She put her bag down and rushed forward, engulfing me in a hug.

"Hang on." She said, pulling away and looking at me. "What's Mr Smith doing out?"

"He seems to answer to me." I shrugged.

"What are you even doing here?" She chuckled.

"I just, needed some space." I sighed.

"Rose?" I stared at her before giving her a small smile.

...

I smiled fondly, thinking about the butterfly woman that visited me and Sarah Jane the night before in her garden, the universe was amazing.

"Hi!" I looked over to see two teenage girls across the road from us, outside the house I saw people moving into, the girl I saw moving in talking to us. "We've just moved in across the road, I'm Maria Jackson." Sarah Jane nodded at her as she walked towards me from coming back from the post box, trying to pull me inside.

"Hello!" She said briefly.

"Hello!" The girls father shouted, causing Sarah Jane to stop and turn round to him.

"Be nice." I hissed.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alan." He said, running over the road to shake hands with us.

"I hope you're not going to make too much noise, I work from home and I don't like to be disturbed."

"Ok." He said as she turned to go inside.

"Hey." I smiled, shaking his hand. "Flo."

"Nice to be made to feel welcome." He muttered.

"Sorry." Sarah Jane said, turning back and shaking his hand. "Sarah Jane Smith.

"Seeya then!" Maria shouted over.

"Where you off to?" I asked friendily.

"Bubble Shock factory." I frowned at Sarah Jane as the girls walked off and Alan started going on something about how it was just him and Maria, and he'd just gotten divorced. We just looked at each other before walking away and getting into the car, speeding off.

...

"Gates gonna shut!" Sarah Jane pushed her foot on the pedal harder, just getting through the Bubble Shock factory gates before it shut. We parked up the side of the factory and got out, leaning against the wall and trying to find a way in. We found our way round to a door and scanned the area with her watch.

"I knew it." She whispered before taking out her lipstick and sonicing the door.

"I still can't believe The Doctor gave you a sonic lipstick." I muttered as she yanked open the door to be faced with a guard.

"Oops." She cleared her throat. "Any chance you nicked the psychic paper as you left?"

"Sorry." I muttered.

...

Me and Sarah Jane smiled at Mrs Wormwood as we sat opposite her in her office.

"Let me explain." I began. "We weren't breaking in."

"I was trying to find someone in charge." Sarah Jane said. "I phoned about 100 times but no-one would talk to me."

"Oh I've seen the list. Phone calls, emails, Miss Sarah Jane Smith certainly does make her presence."

"Do you mind if I take notes?"

"Not at all. And as you've been so bold, let's make this a official interview."

"And it's Mrs Wormwood?" I asked, nodding at her name plate on the desk.

"That's correct."

"As a matter of fact, that's in the bible, Wormwood." Sarah Jane said. "The book of revelations. At the end of the world it describes a star, falling to Earth and poisining the waters. A star, called Wormwood."

"Fascinating. Shall we move onto business?"

"I've got contacts in the city. They said it was like this business dropped in from nowhere, and usually it takes years to get approval from the EU for a new food stuff. You got it in two weeks."

"All we're doing is satisfying a need."

"Which is?"

"People are hungry Miss Smith, new food, new drink, new tastes. All the western world does, is eat. All day, every day, eating! That's the human race, they devour! Who are we to deny them?"

...

"Always the secretary." I said breathlessly as we ran through the factory before a alarm went off. "Come on, womens toilets." I said, pulling her towards the ladies loos. We ran in and Sarah Jane kicked open the first cubicle to see Maria and a teenage boy in a white dress sitting there.

"What are you doing here?" Sarah Jane asked.

"I could ask you the same!" Maria spluttered.

"Who's this?" I asked, smiling at the young boy who looked puzzled. "What have they done to you?"

"I knew I had to get away..." He began slowly.

"Yeah, well that goes for all of us." Sarah Jane said.

"Window!" I said, pointing up at a small window.

...

"But who is he?" Maria asked as we got out of the car. "What was he doing in the factory?"

"Come on." I whispered to the boy, taking his hand and leading him into the house, leaving Sarah Jane to talk to Maria. We walked through to the living room and I sat down opposite him. "Let's start from the beggining shall we?" I smiled "Hello."

"Hello." He replied, smiling.

"My name's Flo."

"My name's Flo."

"No silly." I chuckled, shaking my head. "Do you have a name?" I asked as I heard Sarah Jane come into the house, heading into the kitchen to make tea. "You must have a name." I said as Sarah Jane came in to the room with a tray full of sandwiches and tea on. "If I'm Flo, and this is Sarah Jane, who are you?"

"All I know is I had to run."

"You can talk, someone must have taught you that." Sarah Jane said as she sat down. "Who taught you that?"

"Everyone."

"And what does that mean, everyone?"

"I am, everyone. And then I had to run. The girl came, Maria, and then you."

"Well think back." I said, reaching forward and squeezing his hand. "Before that, what can you remember?"

"I was born running."

"But you must have a home." Sarah Jane frowned.

"Is this your home?"

"Yeah."

"And yours?" He asked me.

"No. I don't really have one anyone, drifter me." I chuckled, watching him smile at me.

"Can I live here?" He asked Sarah Jane.

"No, I don't think so, sorry." Sarah Jane said as I frowned at her. I smiled slightly to myself, maybe that's what she needed, someone to love her as much as she loved them. "Help yourself." She nodded at the tray. "Is this food?"

"Food and drink."

"Which is which?"

"Sarah Jane." We heard Mr Smith from upstairs.

"Who's that?"

"No-one."

"There was a voice."

"No there wasn't."

"Sarah Jane." She stood up.

"Not now!" She shut the door over.

"I thought you lived alone?" The boy asked.

"I do. And whatever happens, you must not go upstairs, have you got that? It's private, you must never go upstairs unless Flo or I say so."

"You don't trust me." The boy frowned.

"I don't even know you."

"You've only met me once remember?" I raised a eyebrow at her as she sat down.

"Yeah, but that's different."

"In what way is that different?"

"Now don't be afraid." Sarah Jane said, changing the subject and opening up her watch to scan the boy with.

"Not alien." I muttered, looking at the readings. "Normal healthly lad, human, aging rate normal." Our eyes grew wider.

"This says you were born 360 years ago!" Sarah Jane said in shock. "No, 360 minutes ago!"

"Is that good or bad?" He asked innocently before getting up and picking a book of the shelf, starting to read.

"You can read?" Sarah Jane asked as she continued to scan him.

"I can now. It's easy, see? Letters and words."

"We should let Mr Smith scan him." I begged.

"No." Sarah Jane said stubbornly as I got up and pulled up his top.

"Just as I supspected." I pointed at his stoumach. "No belly button."

"Is that good or bad?" He asked.

"Everyone that's born has a belly button." I sighed, pulling down his top and ruffling his hair.

"Why not me?" He asked.

"I don't think you were born, I think you were grown." Sarah Jane said as I pulled the boy closer to me, hugging him.

"I've never been hugged before." He said. "It's nice."

"SARAH JANE OPEN UP IT'S ME IT'S MARIA!" We heard Maria shout from the front door. Sarah Jane looked at me and ran out to the front door.

"Trust me?" I asked the boy. He nodded. I took his hand and pulled him upstairs and into the attic as I heard screams and bangs round the side of the house.

"What's happening?" He asked as I sat him down on the sofa and picked up a alien gun that looked like a bee hive.

"Mr Smith, if anything happens to me and Sarah Jane, keep him safe until The Doctor comes back, ok?"

"I will keep the boy safe, Flo." I ran out of the attic and blasted the gun at the giant squid cornering Maria, Sarah Jane and Kelsey, sending it flying down onto the landing. It turned back into a human man before running down the stairs.

"Sorry, used your last one." I said, walking back into the attic.

"OH MY FLIPPIN GOD!" I looked round to see Kelsey had walked in.

"GET OUT!" I shouted at her but she just ingored me.

"These things, are they alien?" Maria asked.

"Some of them."

"Where did you get them? How did you get into all of this?"

"I used to travel, through time and space, with a man called The Doctor..."

...

It had been a long day, and I'd convinced Sarah Jane of being a good neighbour.

"Just checking everything's alright." Sarah Jane said to Alan and Maria.

"Very neighbourly."

"Sorry about earlier, welcome to the neighbourhood."

"And who's this?" He nodded at the archetype.

"This is my son." Sarah Jane smiled brightly. "And I should have introduced you two earlier, this is my daughter." She nodded at me, which left me taken back a bit.

"And you are?" Maria's mum Chrissie asked us rudely as she walked in.

"Sarah Jane Smith. I'm from over the road."

"What's he wearing?" Chrissie asked, nodding at the archetype's clothing.

"These are the clothes I was born in."

"Right. Well if you don't mind leaving, it's been a bit of a trauma, family time."

"This woman is rude." The boy said innocently which made me laugh.

"Come on, home." Sarah Jane said, trying to pull us both away.

"You don't have to go." Maria said.

"Come on no." Chrissie laughed. "Invite the neighbours round you'll never get rid of him. Next thing you'll know, holidays together, that's a disaster. No offence, nice to meet you Sarah... Lou."

"Come on." I laughed as Sarah Jane pulled us out.

...

"How are you going to adopt him then?" Maria asked Sarah Jane later on in the garden. "I mean you need forms and things. Who are you gonna say his real mum is, the Bane mother?"

"Mr Smith sorted that." Sarah Jane smiled, holding a bunch of forms. "Officially done and dusted, just needs a name."

"You can choose your own." I said, putting my arm around him.

"I like your's, Flo." He smiled at me.

"How about Jack? Josh? Nathan?" Maria asked.

"Harry? Alistair?" Sarah Jane asked. "Luke?"

"I like Luke." Maria and me both said.

"If you like Luke, I like Luke." Luke smiled.

"Luke Smith, you're a mum." I laughed.

"So, if you're my mum." Luke said. "Who's Flo to me?"

"Flo is your sister." Sarah Jane smiled.

"But what about your parents?" He asked, looking at me.

"You're lucky kiddo, you got adopted, I spent my life in care."

"Not any more." Sarah Jane passed me another pack of forms with my name on it. "A little late I know but, then you'll officially have a brother, a mother, a home." I smiled at Sarah Jane with tears in my eyes, nodding at her before we all looked up at the stars. Who'd have thought I'd have started this day upset and heartbroken, and end it with a family? The Doctor wasn't going to believe this.

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	10. Revenge Of The Slitheen Part 1

"So," I began as Mum fiddled with some alien gizmo and Luke brought in a cup of tea. "Flo Smith."

"Aren't you going to keep the Maxwell?" She asked.

"I could." I shrugged. "Bit of a mouthfull though? Flo Maxwell-Smith? Flo Smith-Maxwell?"

"It's up to you love." She laughed. "Come on then, ready for you first day at school?" She asked Luke.

...

"School is horrible." I told Luke as he sat in the back. "The teachers all try to blow you up in the science rooms."

"Flo, stop teasing your brother!" Mum said as she looked back at Luke in the rear view mirror. "She's joking." We parked up and got out as Maria walked towards us. "Now," She straightened his tie. "You take care." She kissed him on the cheek and smiled, I shook my head, whilst some other kids started laughing as they walked past.

"Goodbye Mum." He said. "Bye Sis." He smiled before walking off with Maria.

"Nice one Mum." I laughed as we got back into the car. "Kissing him on his first day of school."

...

"What have you been doing all day?" Luke asked as we walked inside and up to the attic after picking him and Maria up from school, as Mum and Maria talked to Alan outisde.

"Y'know, just, talking."

"About The Doctor?"

"Yeah."

"Do you travel with him?"

"I do." I smiled as we sat down on the sofa.

"Then why are you here, now?"

"I needed some space, some things happened and..." I sighed. "I met Mum one day with The Doctor, and we clicked, and I was going to leave The Doctor and stay with her but she convinced me not to. But she always told me if I needed somewhere to go, to come here."

"I'm glad you did."

"So am I." I chuckled, kissing him on the head.

...

"I kept making social mistakes today." Luke said as he stood next to me as I watched Mum on the computer, researching Coldfire constructions and their new school buildings.

"You should see The Doctor." I muttered, making Mum smile.

"I think I made one too. Driving you to school when it's just round the corner." She looked up at him. "Kissing you goodbye. Oh we're both new hands at this, and I've got to deal with two of you!"

"I don't really know anybody apart from Maria and Clyde. Maria's in different classes from me most of the time, and Clyde thinks I'm uncool."

"But Clyde's not the only kid in the school."

"But what if I make more mistakes?"

"Then you'll never make the same ones again." She looked round at us properly and took our hand each. "Everyone is nervous starting a new school, a new job, I've never been a mum before!"

"Do I have to go?"

"I could take you out, teach you here, I've considered it."

"School's a laugh once you get it all sorted out Luke." I nudged him in the side.

"It makes me feel stupid when I get it wrong."

"Just remember," I smiled, putting my arm around him. "You saved the world the day you were born. Not many people can say that."

"No-one else can say that. That's the point." He sighed.

"Come on, let's spy on creepy builder people." I said, getting him to sit down at the computer.

...

"So here we were," I said to Luke as we sat opposite each other crossed legged on the sofa whilst Mum sat at the computer. "Running for our lives when-" Suddenly it went pitch black, everything turned off, even Mr Smith. "Ah. Brilliant. Mum, can you see how long it's gonna be?" She opened up her watch and frowned as it drained power.

"That's impossible, it can't lose power." I frowned as I took out my phone that The Doctor had upgraded, but nothing.

"The superphone's down as well." I sighed before everything suddenly turned on again.

"Must be faulty." Luke said.

"Whatever cut the electric off, cut this off as well."

...

I watched Luke leave the drive for school and Mum walk across the road to talk to Alan and smiled. I turned back and sat on the sofa, taking my phone out of my pockets. I went through the contacts and hovered over The TARDIS before pressing dial and putting the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" I heard Rose say from the other end.

"Hey Rose it's-" I heard the whirring landing noise of The TARDIS then a odd bang.

"Sorry who?" She asked.

"Sorry, might be a bit of interference with where we've landed"." I heard The Doctor say in the background.

"It's Flo!" I said loudly."Who?" She asked again before the phone cut off.

...

"So what are you saying about our company then?" The woman asked me and Mum as we sat in the Coldfire constructions office.

"Miss?"

"You can call me Janine."

"I've been reading up, as much as I could, it's not just these school projects in London. You've moved from country to country. Cheap local labour, no questions asked. Santiago, workers refuse to go in. Techincal problems, Valencia, Paris, same story. The plans also have a big empty area behind a wall." And by Janine's expression, that's when it hit me.

"They're Slitheen." I said breathlessly, jumping up. Mum looked at me in shock before we ran out and were cornered by Janine now in her true form, about to get killed...

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	11. Revenge Of The Slitheen Part 2

"I like your perfume." The Slitheen cackled.

"Good sense of smell?" I asked, pulling open Mum's bag.

"Best nose in the galaxy official."

"Well smell this!" I pulled out the perfume bottle, smashing it on the ground before grabbing Mum's hand and pulling her towards the door, she soniced it and we ran out towards the car.

...

I put my phone into the handsfree set and rang Luke. It rang for a couple of seconds before he picked up.

"Luke?"

"Flo."

"I was wrong it is aliens." Sarah Jane said, driving quickly along the road.

"Yeah I know." He said as we heard growling.

"You need to make a big enough smell to get away." I told him before he hung up. Mum pressed down on the peddle and we eventually pulled up outside the technology block. We jumped out and Mum soniced the doors and Maria and Luke came runnin gout with a black teenage boy. Luke ran straight towards me and I hugged him tightly. "You ok?"

"Fine." He said.

"Come on, into the car." I said, ushering them into the car.

"What is he doing here?" Sarah Jane asked Maria.

"Sorry."

"Another persons life in my hands, just what I needed."

...

"Inhabitants of Rax-" Mum frowned at her watch before Luke looked at it, being able to read it.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius." He read.

"Well I could have told you that!" I said.

"The outcast Slitheen family are scavengers. Known to infiltrate low tech planets by hiding the in skin in the native species." Mum looked at me.

"Slitheen in Downing straat." We both said at the same time.

"What?" Luke asked.

"Something someone said once. Gas exchange from skin compression can lead to-"

"Farting." Luke said. "Farting's funny." Suddenly, the door burst open and Clyde and Maria walked in.

"Right, what's going on in..." He trailed off, taking in the attic.

"Why don't you bring round the whole school Maria, hm?" I asked.

"If he tells anyone, who's gonna believe him?"

"Hang on, I've just had creatures from outerspace on my back and nobody's gonna-"

"Just shutup a minute." Mum snapped. "I'm busy, and you're not important, it's getting like Clapham junction up here." She muttered as we made our way over to Mr Smith. "The Slitheen must have taken over Coldfire construction, put up building all over the world. Why?"

"I think I know." Luke said. "There's a hidden room in school, I saw inside.

"What's in there?" I asked.

"I've got a theory. Mr Smith could help."

"Who's that, your dad?" Clyde asked as Mum turned to Mr Smith.

"Mr Smith I need you." Mum said before Mr Smith opened up, leaving Clyde shocked.

"Good afternoon, Sarah Jane."

"Oh yes!" Clyde exclaimed. "Is that a computer?"

"Who's that?"

"Nobody, Mr Smith, Luke would like some help." Mum said, moving out the way so Luke could speak.

"Certainly." Mr Smith replied. "Hello Luke."

"Hello Mr Smith. Bring up a sattelite image of London please." Luke requested, to which a image of London appeared on the screen. "Now plot the exact position of every school building out up by Coldfire constructions." Red lights appeared on the map, locating every building.

"This is real, everything's real! The talking computer is real!" Clyde exclaimed.

"Mr Smith plot every building around the world put up by Coldfire constructions in the last 18 months." I said, Mr Smith putting up a worldwide map and plotting it. "Paris, Sydney, Beijing, look pretty random, not all capital cities. Hang on, they've all got underground railways!"

"Link them." Mum said.

"London, Barcelona, Washington, Santiago, Los Angeles, Sydney Beijing, Moscow, Naples, Paris." All the cities linked up across the world.

"There's a Slitheen at every sight."

"And there's ten sights across the world. That's it, call the army!" Clyde said.

"Oh will you shutup, please?" I snapped.

"Sorry, who is she?" He asked Luke.

"She's my sister." Luke muttered, still focused on the screen.

"Cause that'll make things better." Maria commented.

"It's not your job!"

"And there's a cleverer way of going about things. What's it all for?" She turned back to Luke. "Secret room, what was in there?"

"Mum I've done something really stupid." He gulped, turning round. "A really bad social mistake. I told the Slitheen how to destroy the world."

...

"It wasn't working until I went and gave them the answers." Luke sighed as I sat with him at the computer desk, looking at the plans. "The power cut last night, it was a test drive."

"But our candles went out," Maria said, picking up the plans and walking around the attic with them. "And that's not electric."

"When the capacitors are charged up, they act as tranducers, converting heat and light into electrical energy. That's how the loop works, it's not connected pyshically."

"But what has underground railways got to do with that?"

...

"Mr Smith, Luke needs to get in there to reset the system, so we need to know everything on the inhabitants of Raxacoricofallapatorius." Mum said.

"Wait!" I said. "I travel with The Doctor, him and Rose stopped them remember?"

"Of course, Flo, anything?"

"They're calcium creatures, living calcium!" I said, waving my arms around. "Jackie blew one of them up with vinegar!"

...

"The machines useless now, we broke the chain." Luke said as we walked along Bannerman Road, the Slitheen now stopped.

"Except there's rooms all round the world with secret rooms filled with alien technology inside." Maria said.

"Don't worry." I chuckled as Mum hung up the phone. "The Brigadier's sorting it."

"Friends of mine are sorting it." Mum agreed.

"Friends from UNIT?"

"What's UNIT?" Clyde asked. "Furniture shop?"

"WHERE WERE YOU?" Chrissie came rushing round the corner towards Maria, nattering on as usual. "Did you see the sun, it went blue!" She pulled Maria off across the road.

...

"Here's your reward, a nice cuppa." Mum said as she handed Clyde a mug, as we all sat in the living room, Luke upstairs.

"Is this from outer space?" He asked, looking at some ornament.

"Veneswuela." She said. "You ask too many questions Clyde."

"Too late for that." He laughed, sitting down next to me. "Can't stop me now."

"I suppose, that's how I got started." Mum said. "Asking questions."

"How did you start with all this stuff?"

"I met this man, called The Doctor, we both did." She smiled at me. "He was a alien too."

"What like a big green thing?"

"No." I laughed. "He looked just like you and me."

"Except he was nothing like you and me." Mum explained. "He took me through space, far away from Earth."

"You travelled in space? Both of you?" He asked, looking between us.

"And time." We both said.

"I saw galaxies and planets and things you wouldn't imagine!"

"So where is he now, this Doctor?"

"He's with Rose somewhere." I said as Mum squeezed my hand. "But he's coming back for me, soon, I just came to visit but things happened." I chuckled. "Maybe you'll meet him, you never know."

"The thing is Clyde you can't ever tell anyone about this, it has to be our secret, can I trust you?"

"Yeah."

...

I slipped into the bed, sitting next to Luke. It was pretty late and was really dark. He grabbed my hand a squeezed it, making me smile.

"You were great today." I mumbled.

"I nearly lost everything."

"It's ok." I sighed. "Luke?"

"Yeah?"

"You know I'm not always going to be here, you know that?"

"Because you're going to go back to The Doctor. But you'll still visit?"

"Of course! Every day if you want, it is a time machine. But that's not what I meant."

"What do you mean then?" He asked.

"The reason I'm travelling with The Doctor is because my timeline, there's something wrong with it, something different. And I've been thinking about it, and I think I know what it is now."

"What?"

"I think I'm going to die, Luke." I whispered. "I think I have to save The Doctor, that's why my timeline is so complicated. Travelling with The Doctor, you don't always come out of it alive."

"But-" I heard him start to get upset.

"You can't tell Mum, please." I whispered, hugging my brother as he started to cry.

"You can't leave me." He whispered.

"Ssh, it's ok." I whispered back. I got up slowly, letting him fall asleep as I felt my phone vibrate. I walked out of the room and answered.

"Hello?"

"I'm at the end of the road." It was The Doctor.

"Yeah, two minutes." I mumbled, hanging up. I walked into the attic and scribbled a quick note:

_He came back, I'm sorry. I love you both x_

And stuck the note to Mr Smith before walking downstairs and out of the house in my pyjamas, glancing at Maria's house and then down the street at Clyde's before walking off in the other direction in search of The TARDIS.

**A/N - So that's the end of the SJA adventures for this series! But it isn't the end, there will be more, possibly sooner than you think! Next up is Fear Her. Please review, it makes me feel so much better and helps me write haha! **


	12. Fear Her

"So let me get this straight." Rose shook her head as we stepped out of The TARDIS into some sort of building sight. "Sarah Jane, is your 'muffer?"

"Basically, yeah." I shrugged.

"So, near future, yeah?" Rose asked as The Doctor stepped out behind us, shutting the doors behind him.

"I had a passing fancy. Only it didn't pass, it stopped."

...

We walked along a suburban street with a banner overhead saying '2012 Olympics' on.

"30th Olympia."

"No way! Why didn't I think of this, that's great! Ah!" Rose said in delight, linking her arm with his.

"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about... wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood about, begging... no, wait a minute... that was Club Med." He laughed. "Just in time for the opening doo dah - ceremony... tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again. Fella carrying the torch... lovely chap, what was his...?" Me and Rose looked over at a lamp post, covered in several missing posters, all of them kids. It made me tense, all these kids, about the same age as Luke, Maria and Clyde, I'd be distraught if they'd been taken by anything, these parents must be going out of their minds. "Mark...? John..? Mark...? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet."

"Doctor-" Rose began.

"And in those days, everybody had a tea party to go to."

"Doctor?" I said.

"Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top-"

"You should really look." Rose called over.

"Do you know those - those things?" He asked, walking over. "Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius." He read the posters. "What's taking them, do you think?" He looked round the street. "Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this. Why's it so cold...? Is something reducing the temperature...?"

"It says they all went missing this week. Why would a person do something like this?"

"What makes you think it's a person?" The Doctor frowned.

"Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death. Doctor, what-?" We turned round to see The Doctor at the other end of the street. I walked over towards him, kneeling down as Rose talked to some man.

"Tickles!" The Doctor giggled.

"What's your game?" We looked up to see a man, presumably the father of Tommy who lived at this house and was stolen.

"My... um... Snakes and Ladders? Quite good at... Squash. Reasonable." He looked at me. "I'm... being facetious, aren't I? There's no call for it." I pulled him up and we backed away into the street.

"I'm- I'm a police officer! I've got a badge - and- and a police car... you don't have to get- I can- I can prove it! Just hold on-" He felt around for the psychic paper.

"We've had plenty of coppers poking around here, and you don't look - or sound - like any of them." Tommy's dad grunted.

"See, look! I've got colleagues! Lewis." He pointed at me. "And... Lewis." He pointed at Rose.

"Well, she looks less like a copper than you do." He pointed at Rose. "And she could pass of I suppose." He nodded at me.

"Oi!" Rose exclaimed in offence.

"Training. New recruit. It was either that or hairdressing, so..." He pulled out the psychic paper. "Voila!"

"What are you going to do?" Another woman asked, appearing behind us.

"The police have knocked on every door - no clues, no leads, nothing." A elderly woman said.

"Look, kids run off sometimes, all right? That's what they do-" Tommy's dad said.

"Dale Hixon in your garden, playing with your Tommy, and then...!" The elderly woman mimicked a poof. "Right in front of me, like he was never there! There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."

"Why don't we-"

"Why don't we start with him?" Another woman pointed at the council man. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night."

"Fixing things up for the Olympics!" He argued.

"Yeah, and taking an awful long time about it."

"I'm of the opinion that all we've gotta do is just-"

"You don't- what you just said, that's slander!"

"I don't care what it is!"

"I think we need to just-"

"I want an apology off her!"

"Stop picking on him."

"Yeah, stop picking on me!"

"And stop pretending to be blind! It's evil!"

"I don't believe in evil."

"Oh no, you just believe in tarmackers with sack loads of kidnapped kiddies in their van-"

"Ay, ay, ay, that's not what she's saying."

"Would you stop ganging up on me?"

"Feeling guilty, are we?"

"SHUTUP!" I shouted, making everyone turn silent.

"In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, right?" The Doctor asked.

"Look around you..." The elderly lady began. "This was a safe street 'til it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will. Maybe you're coppers - maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?" She asked as one of the neighbours hurried back inside.

...

The Doctor had managed to talk to Chloe, it was a child, a child alien called the Isolus inside it, crashed, the poor little thing...

"You knew the Isolus was lonely before it told you. How?" Rose asked as the Doctor started piecing together some device.

"I know what it's like to travel a long way on your own. Give me the stina magnetic erm..." He nodded at her hand. "Thing in your left hand!"

"Sounds like you're on its side." She handed the thing he needed over to him.

"I sympathise, that's all."

"The Isolus has caused a lot of pain for these people."

"It's a child!" He blew on the device. "That's why it went to Chloe, two lonely mixed up kids."

"Hmm... feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get its own way."

"It's scared! Come on, you were a kid once. Binary dot." He nodded to me.

"Yes! And I know what kids can be like. Right little... terrors." Rose said as I handed over the binary dot.

"Gum." Rose spat her gum out into his hand.

"I've got cousins. Kids can't have it all their own way. That's part of being a family." He stuck the gum to the device.

"What about trying to understand them?" He asked.

"Easy for you to say. You don't have kids."

"I was a dad once." Me and Rose looked at each other, stunned.

"What did you say?" She asked.

"I think we're there!" He walked to the console. "Fear. Loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to conquer or destroy." He pressed some buttons. "There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive... wormhole refractors..." Rose held out her hand. "You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold." He took her hand.

"No! Look, I'm pointing." She laughed, pointing at the screen.

"It's the pod! It is in the street! Everything's coming up Doctor!" He grinned as we made our way towards the doors and stepped outside. "Okay. It's about two inches across. Dull grey, like a gulls egg. Very light."

"So these pods - they travel from sun to sun using heat, yeah?" Rose asked. "So it's not all about love and stuff. Doesn't the pod just need heat?" It all went black.

...

Me and The Doctor walked back down Dame Kelly Holmes Close, now dark. The Doctor had explained what had happened, that the Isolus had drawn us.

"Cake?" We looked round to see Rose holding a cupcake decorated with edible ball bearings. He started to laugh as she handed it over.

"Top banana!" He took a bite.

"Mm. I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat - masterpiece!"

"What now?" Rose asked as we both linked arms with him.

"I wanna go to the games! What we came for!"

"Go on - give us a clue - which events do we do well in?" I asked.

"Well, I will tell you this: Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put."

"Really? You're joking, aren't you? Doctor, are you serious or are you joking?" Rose asked.

"Wait and see!" We looked up at the fireworks bursting through the sky.

"You know what; they keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will."

"Never say never ever.

"Nah. We'll always be okay, you and me." Rose said, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. "Don't you reckon, Doctor?"

"Can you feel it too?" I mumbled, frowning at the sky.

"Yeah." He replied.

"Feel what?" Rose asked impatiently.

"Something in the air. Something coming."

"What?"

"A storm's approaching."

**A/n - Ok, I know I've updated LOADS today, this will be my fifth chapter today! I might update again tonight with Army of Ghosts if I've written it by then, but please please please review if you have any ideas, little scenes/moments etc, mentions about Amy/Rory/Mels/Sarah Jane/Luke/Maria/Clyde etc. **

**Please Review!**


	13. Army Of Ghosts

"Mum, it's us! We're ba-ack!" Rose called out through her flat as we walked through.

"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone! You never use it!" Jackie said, rushing forward and hugging her daughter. "Oh, I love you!"

"I love you!"

"I love you so MUCH!" Jackie said as me and The Doctor squeezed past them.

"I've got LOADS of washing for ya! And - I got you this!" Rose handed Jackie her bag and showed her the Bezoolium she bought her. "It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar. It's made of um...what's it called?"

"Bezoolium." The Doctor said, reading a magazine.

"Bezoolium. When it gets cold, yeah, it means it's gonna rain - when it's hot, it's gonna be sunny! You can use it to tell the weather!"

"I've got a surprise for you and all."

"Oh, I get her bezoolum - she doesn't even say 'thanks'."

"Guess who's coming to visit? You're just in time - he'll be here at ten past! Who do you think it is?"

"I don't know."

"Oh go on, guess!"

"No, I hate guessing. Just tell me." Rose snapped.

"It's your grandad. Grandad Prentice. He's on his way. Any minute!" Rose just stared at her. "Right, cup of tea!" She dissapeared into the kitchen but Rose just stood there, staring at her.

"She's gone mad." Rose muttered as we stood next to her.

"Tell me something new."

"Grandad Prentice - that's her dad. But he died like, ten years ago. Oh my God. She's lost it. Mum?" Jackie looked at her. "What you just said about grandad..."

"Any second now."

"But... he passed away. His heart gave out. Do you remember that?" Rose asked gently.

"Course I do!"

"...Then how can he come back?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" She looked at her watch. "Ten past. Here he comes." Suddenly, a blurred figue walked out of nowhere into the kitchen and stood next to Jackie. "Here we are, then! Dad... say hello to Rose. Ain't she grown?"

...

"They're everywhere!" The Doctor said, looking around the estate, watching people acting normal with ghosts.

"Doctor, look out!" I shouted as a ghost walked straight through him.

"They haven't got long. Midday shift only lasts a couple of minutes. They're about to fade."

"What do you mean, SHIFT? Since when did ghosts have shifts? Since when did shifts have ghosts? What's going on?"

"Oh, he's not happy when I know more than him, is he?"

"But no one's running or screaming or freaking out or-"

"Why should we? Here we go. Twelve minutes past." Suddenly, the ghosts all faded away.

"Back upstairs." The Doctor said, pulling us back towards the flat.

"I'll be one minute." I said, hanging back. I waited until The Doctor had gone inside before I took out my phone. I was going to ring Mum but I couldn't have her turning up here in case there was something dangerous, so instead I rang someone I knew would explain things properly without blundering in, Clyde. He wouldn't do anything with Mum knowing, then I heard the click of him answering. "Tell me about the ghost shifts."

"Flo?"

"Yes." I said quickly. "Now, ghost shifts, tell me."

"I don't know, they just appeared!"

"What about Mr Smith?"

"He can't detect anything, no."

"Bloody brilliant." I muttered.

"Luke's not great you know?" He sighed. "We understand you had to go, because of The Doctor, none of us are annoyed about that, but you can tell, there's something on his mind and he won't say anything. What did you say to him, before you left?"

"Nothing." I lied.

"I think he misses you."

"I miss him." I chuckled. "I'll come home as soon as I can, ok?"

...

"It's all over the world." The Doctor said, flicking through the channels.

"Listen to me, Denn Watts. I don't care if you HAVE come back from the grave. Get out of my pub! The only spirits I'm serving in this place are gin, whisky and vodka. So, you heard me - GET OUT!" Peggy Mitchell shouted at a ghost. The Doctor sighed and switched it off, turning to Jackie.

"When did it start?"

"Well first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down-"

"No, worldwide." I said softly.

"Oh! That was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were - ghosts, everywhere. We all ran round screaming and that, whole planet was panicking... no sign of YOU, thank you very much... then it sort of sank in. Took us time to realise that... we're lucky."

"What makes you think it's grandad?" Rose asked.

"Just feels like him. There's that smell, those old cigarettes. Can't you smell it?

"I wish I could, mum, but I can't."

"You've got to make an effort. You've got to WANT it, sweetheart."

"The more you want it, the stronger it gets?"

"Sort of, yeah."

"Like a psychic link. Course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in."

...

"It's alright it's holding!" Rose shouted out to me and The Doctor as we watched the trapped ghost.

"Don't like that much, do you?" The Doctor asked as he put a pair of 3d specs on and the ghost groaned. Who are you? Where are you coming from? That's more like it! Not so friendly NOW, are you?"

...

Rose was in The TARDIS, and me, The Doctor and Jackie had been taken prisoner by Torchwood, brilliant.

"All those times I've been on Earth, I'VE never heard of you." The Doctor said as we walked down the corridor.

"But of course not. You're the enemy. You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown. And you too," Yvonne nodded at me. "The Doctor and Flo Maxwell."

"It's Smith now thank you." I muttered. "1879... that was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland."

"That's right. Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf."

"I think they make half of it up." Jackie muttered.

"Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great. And fighting the alien horde."

"But if we're the enemy, does that mean that we're prisoners?"

"Oh yes." We reached a door and Yvonne scanned her card, opening the door. "But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us. Starting with this." We walked into a chamber, full of tech, with a massive gold sphere floating in midair on the other side of the room. "Now, what do you make of that?"

"You must be the Doctor. Rajesh Singh. It's an honour, sir." A man rushed over to us, although The Doctor just ignored him.

"Yeah..."

"What IS that thing?" Jackie asked.

"We got no idea."

"But what's wrong with it?"

"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?"

"I dunno... just feels weird."

"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you wanna run and hide. Like it's forbidden."

"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable."

"Doctor something feels really wrong about it." I whispered.

"It's a void ship."

"What's that?" Yvonne asked.

"Well, it's impossible for starters. I always thought it was just a theory, but... it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space. Travelling through the Void."

"And what's 'the Void'?"

"The space between dimensions. There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions - billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in-between. Containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that - nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down. No life. No time. Without end. My people called it the Void, the Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell."

"So how do we get in there?"

"We don't!" I shouted suddenly, shaking, interupting what The Doctor was going to say. "We send that thing back into hell!" The Doctor ran over to me and put his arm around me, looking sternly at Yvonne.

"How did it get here in the first place?" He asked angrily.

"Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake."

"Show me."

...

I looked out of the office and into the big white room with the levers. Nobody had noticed it yet but I had.

"Flo?" The Doctor asked me in concern.

"They've started the shift!" I said nervously, nodding at the levers.

"Who started the program? But- I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?" Yvonne asked as we all rushed out. "Stop the levers!" Me and The Doctor looked at the people at the computers with blank expressions. "All of you step away from the desks!" The Doctor looked over at the computers.

I stood in the middle of the room as the ghost shift reached 100%. Everything froze around me and I didn't even notice The Doctor, Yvonne and Jackie leave and be brought back in. Then all the ghosts walked through the wall, slowly phasing into Cybermen.

"What is it?" Jackie panicked.

"A footprint doesn't look like a boot." I gulped as The Doctor squeezed my hand. "Cybermen."

**Please Review!**


	14. Doomsday

"What's down there? She was in that room with the sphere. What's happened to Rose?" Jackie asked as me and The Doctor leaned against the wall.

"I don't know." The Doctor said abruptly. "I'll find her. I brought you here, I'll get you both out. You and your daughter. Jackie, look at me. Look at me." Jackie looked up at him. "I promise you. I give you my word."

...

Me, Jackie and The Doctor stood in Yvonne's office, looking over London city in flames.

"I ordered surrender." The Cyberleader said.

"They're not taking instructions. Don't you understand?" The Doctor snapped.

"You're on every street - you're in their homes. You've got their children. Of course they're gonna fight." I shouted.

"Units open visual link." The computer screen turned on and showed the image of a Dalek that the Cybermen had found, The Doctor squeezed my hand as I froze. The Daleks and Cybermen argued for a while before the real stuff happened. "Quarantine the Sphere Chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel." The Cybermen grabbed onto the staff, Yvonne and Jackie, starting to drag them away.

"No, you can't do this! We surrendered! We surrendered!"

"This one's increased adrenaline suggests he has vital Dalek information." The Doctor turned to me quickly.

"You have to be brave, I can't have them finding out who you are."

"You promised me! You gave me your word!" Jackie screamed as she was pulled out of the room and as they suddenly started to pull me away.

"NO!" I shouted loudly enough for silence to fall. "Scan me, you need me." The Doctor looked over in fear. "I don't know what I am yet but you could use me, subnormal timline." We stood in silence for a second before they let go of me and shoved me back to The Doctor.

...

"You are proof." The Cyberman said to me and The Doctor as we sat on the window sill.

"Of what?" I asked.

"That emotions destroy you."

"Yeah, I am." The Doctor sighed, glancing to the side. "Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes." The Cyberman followed his gaze and a group of people dressed in black appeared out of nowhere, shooting all the Cybermen dead before the leader took of his mask to reveal Jake.

"Doctor - good to see you again." Jake nodded. "Flo, you too." I grinned and ran forward, hugging him tightly.

"Jake?"

"The Cybermen came through from one world to another - and so did we." I pulled out of the hug as The Doctor walked over. "Defend this room. Chrissie, monitor communications." He said to his group. "Kill one Cyber Leader and they just download into another. Move!"

"You can't just- just- just HOP from one world to another. You CAN'T."

"We just did. With these." He chuckled the Doctor a big yellow button, which he caught.

"But that's impossible. You can't have this sort of technology."

"We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it. Do you wanna come and see?"

"NO!" The Doctor said, but suddenly he dissapeared. A few minutes later he reappeared again with Jake and Pete Tyler.

"Pete." I grinned, and he just smiled back at me.

...

"I just fell, I didn't mean it!" Mickey shouted as we ran down the corridor.

"Mickey, without us, they'd have opened it by force. To do that, they'd have blown up the sun. You've done us a favour! Now, run!" I grabbed Mickey's hand and smiled grinned at him.

"I've missed you so much!" I said as we both laughed.

...

"I'm sorry, but you've had it. This world's gonna crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home. Jacks, take this." Pete chucked Jackie another yellow button.

"But they're destroying the City!"

"I'd forgotten you could argue." He put another button around himself. "It's not just London, it's the whole world."

"But there's another world, just waiting for you, Jacks. And it's safe. As long as the Doctor closes the breach. Doctor?"

"Oh, I'm ready. I've got the equipment right here. Thank you, Torchwood!"

...

"Once the breach collapses, that's IT. You will never be able to see her again. Your own mother!" The Doctor shouted at Rose.

"I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you."

"And you?" He turned to me.

"Oh believe me." I said. "I'm not going anywhere. You're here, my Mum's here, my brother's here. I don't care if you are a time lord, you're not sending me anywhere, have you got that?"

...

"Offline." The computer said as me and Rose held on one side and The Doctor the other.

"Turn it on!" Rose leaned forward, groaning and trying to grab the lever. She grabbed onto it and let go of the clamp, trying to push it forward.

"I've gotta get it upright!" She groaned. Finally, she held it upright as me and The Doctor watched on in horror.

"ROSE HOLD ON!" Me and The Doctor both shouted.

"Online and locked." She held on to the lever and suddenly her fingers started to slip, one by one.

"HOLD ON!" The Doctor screamed. He grip fell and I ran forward, grabbing the lever with one hand and Rose's with the other."FLO! HOLD ON!" He screamed as I started to feel my grip slip, I wasn't going to be able to hold on much longer. Rose looked at The Doctor before looking back at me and yanking her hand away and she started flying towards the void when Pete appeared, catching her before dissapearing again.

...

"I tried to save her." I sobbed as I walked down the stairs to the console room, after The Doctor had finished saying goodbye to Rose. "I'm so sorry, she pulled her hand away."

"It's ok." He said, wrapping me in a hug as I cried. Eventually I let go and we turned to the console when we looked round to see a ginger woman in a wedding dress standing in front of us.

"What?" The Doctor exclaimed as the woman turned round and yelped. "What?"

"Who are you?"

"But-"

"Where am I?"

"What?"

"What the hell is this place?"

"WHAT?"

**A/N - Ok, I know I've been updating a awful lot lately, I've had a lot of time to update lately. But when there's SJA stories they will take longer to put on because I have to press play and pause and then type what they say because there's no transcript online. So Rose is is in the parallel world and next up is The Runaway Bride, and there will finally be conversation about the kiss at the end of Age of Steel.**


	15. The Runaway Bride

"But, we're in flight?" I asked quietly, looking up at The Doctor, who was still hugging me but looking bewildered at the woman.

"You can't do that, I wasn't... we're in flight! That is- that is physically impossible! How did-?"

"Tell me where I am. I demand you tell me right now - where am I?" The woman shouted commandingly.

"Inside the TARDIS." The Doctor said.

"The what?"

"The TARDIS."

"The what?"

"The TARDIS!" The Doctor snapped, turning to the controls with still one arm around me.

"The what?"

"It's called the TARDIS." I said softly, wiping the tears away that were slowly drying on my cheek.

"That's not even a proper word. You're just saying things." She snapped angrily.

"How did you get in here?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, obviously, when you kidnapped me. Who was it? Who's paying you? Is it Nerys? Oh, my God, she's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it." She shouted with rage.

"Who the hell is Nerys?" We both asked.

"Your best friend."

"Got my best friend here thank you." He said, rubbing my arm before looking her up and down. "Hold on, wait a minute - what're you dressed like that for?"

"She's going ten pin bowling." I said sarcastically.

"Why do you think, Dumbo? I was halfway up the aisle!" She shouted at him as The Doctor started running around the controls, fiddling with them.

"I've been waiting all my life for this." She ranted, starting to walk around. "I was just seconds away! And then you- I dunno, you drugged me or something!"

"I haven't done anything!"

"Hey it's ok." I whispered, walking up to the woman and putting my hand on her shoulder. "We'll get you back, don't worry."

"We're having the police on you!" She shouted back to The Doctor. "Me and my husband - as soon as he is my husband - we're gonna sue the living backside off ya!" I sighed and made my way over to The Doctor before the woman noticed the doors and ran towards them.

"No, wait a minute! Wait a minute! Don't-!" The Doctor shouted as she pulled open the doors. We sighed and made our way to the doors, looking out at the supernova as the woman watched in shock.

"You're in space. Outer Space. This is my... space-ship. It's called the 'TARDIS'." The Doctor explained awkwardly.

"How am I breathing?"

"The TARDIS is protecting us."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Flo."

"I'm the Doctor. You?"

"Donna."

"Human?"

"Yeah. Is that optional?"

"Well, it is for him."

Donna looked up at him, "You're an alien."

"Yeah."

"And you?" She looked at me.

"Human." I smiled.

"It's freezing with these doors open." She said after a moment. Me and The Doctor took a door each, slamming them before turning and running up to the controls.

"But I don't understand it and I understand everything! This- this can't happen! There is no way a Human Being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside. It must be..." He grabbed a piece of equipment and looked into Donna's eyes. "Impossible. Some sort of subatomic connection? Something in the temporal field? Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the Chronon shell. Maybe something macro mining your DNA within the interior matrix. Maybe a genetic-" Suddenly, she slapped him. "What was that for?" He asked as I laughed.

"Get me to the church!" She yelled.

"Right! Fine! I don't want you here anyway! Where is this wedding?" He asked as he ran back to the controls, entering coordinates.

"Saint Mary's, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System." She said. "I knew it. Acting all innocent." She stormed over to the railing and picked up a blouse of Rose's lying on it before striding back towards us. "I'm not the first, am I? How many women have you abducted? Is she just one you've kept as a pet?" She nodded at me. The Doctor looked at the blouse and his face drew dark.

"That's my friend's." He said quietly.

"Where is she, then? Popped out for a space walk?" Donna said sarcastically.

"She's gone."

"Gone where?"

"I lost her."

"I tried to save her." I whispered.

"Well, you can hurry up and lose me. How do you mean, 'lost'?" The Doctor looked up at her darkly and snatched the blouse from her before making his way towards the doors.

"Right! Chiswick."

...

"I said 'Saint Mary's'. What sort of Martian are you? Where's this?" Donna asked as we stepped out of The TARDIS.

"Something's wrong with her..." I mumbled as The Doctor stroked the TARDIS.

"It's like she's... recalibrating!" The Doctor said as we made our way back into the TARDIS towards the console. "She's digesting. What have you eaten? What's wrong?"

"Donna?" I called out. "You've really gotta think. Is there anything that might've caused this? Anything you might've done? Any sort of alien contacts? I can't let you go wandering off in case you're dangerous, believe me, I know what that's like. I mean, have you..." I thought for a moment. "I don't know, have you seen lights in the sky maybe? Or... did you touch something? Something- something different? Something strange? Something made out of a sort of metal or... who're you getting married to?"

"Are you sure he's human? He's not a bit overweight with a zip around his forehead, is he?" The Doctor called out.

"Nah sent them back home." I muttered, The Doctor glancing at me as I thought back to Luke's school and the Slitheen. I looked round at the doors to see Donna had gone. "Donna!"

...

"The funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn't really do that much flying." The Doctor said as we stepped out onto the roof. "We'd better give her a couple of hours. You all right?"

"Doesn't matter." She shrugged.

"Did we miss it?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"Well, you can book another date..."

"Course we can."

"Still got the honeymoon..."

"It's just a holiday now."

"Yeah... yeah... sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Oh! That's a change." The Doctor chuckled.

"Wish we had a time machine. Then we could go back and get it right."

"... Yeah, yeah. But... even if I did, I couldn't go back on someone's personal timeline. Apparently." Donna sighed and we both walked forward, sitting on the edge of the roof. The Doctor sat in between us and put his jacket round Donna before taking my hand and linking his fingers with mine.

"God, you're skinny. This wouldn't fit a rat."

"Oh and you'd better put this on." The Doctor held out a wedding ring to her.

"Oh, do you have to rub it in?" I laughed.

"Those creatures can trace you." He told Donna. "This is a bio-damper. Should keep you hidden." He slipped it onto her finger. "With this ring, I thee bio-damp."

"For better or for worse." She sighed as The Doctor leaned back over and placed a kiss on my head as we looked out over the city. "So, come on then. Robot santas - what are they for?"

"Ah, your basic robo-scavenger. The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. They're trying to blend in. I met them last Christmas."

"Why, what happened then?"

"Great big spaceship?" I asked. "Hovering over London? You didn't notice?"

"I had a bit of a hangover."

"I spent Christmas Day just over there, the Powell Estate. With this... family. My friend, she had this family. Well, they were..." I squeezed his hand. "Still... gone now."

"Your friend... who was she?"

"Question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the TARDIS? I don't know..."

...

"You had the reception without me?" Donna shouted at her friends and family.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor." The Doctor said after a awkward pause.

"They had the reception without me." Donna said to me.

"Yes, I gathered." I muttered.

"Well, it was all paid for - why not?" A blonde woman said from the crowd.

"Thank you, Nerys." Donna spat. Ah, so _that_ was Nerys.

"Well, what were we supposed to do?" A elder woman who I pre I got your silly little message in the end - "I'm on Earth"? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it? I mean, what's the trick because I'd love to know-" Everyone started talking, babbling over one another when Donna burst into tears and everyone's anger turned into pity. Her fiancee came over to hug her and she winked back at us.

...

"Remind me how you talked me into dancing again?" I chuckled as he swayed slowly with the music.

"I'm really sorry." He mumbled.

"It's my fault." I whispered.

"No i-"

"It is though." I interupted, looking into his eyes. "I tried to save her."

"The void was too strong, she slipped." I felt myself freeze. Did he not see? He didn't see. He didn't see her yank away from me on purpose. "You done all you could."

"I tried to save her!" I gasped. I gulped and looked at him. "Why did you kiss me?"

"I..." He stuttered. "Just did." I smiled softly at him and kissed him quickly on the lips before nodding over at a man with a video camera in the corner of the room.

...

"We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up." I explained to Donna.

"If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. Donna - we're going further back than I've ever been before." The Doctor grinned. Donna nodded and sat down, tears pouring down her face.

"I know how you feel." I said to her, squeezing her hands.

"You know what it's like thinking someone loves you, but they don't?"

"Yes." I half chuckled.

"We've arrived... want to see?" The Doctor asked.

"I s'pose." Donna shrugged.

"Look from out the doors." I said, pulling Donna up and walking towards the doors, opening the up.

"You're the first humans to see this." The Doctor whispered. "Donna Noble, Flo Smith-Maxwell - welcome to the creation of the Earth." We stared at the rocks flying through space, circled with colourful gas. We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no Solar System, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."

"Where's the Earth?"

"All around us... in the dust."

"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny."

"No, but that's what you do. The Human Race. Making sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

"So, I came out of all this?"

"Isn't that brilliant?" He grinned. "Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in, everything, piling in until you get the..."

"Earth." I whispered.

...

"Just... there's one problem." Donna said as we stopped laughing.

"What's that?"

"We've drained the Thames."

...

"There we go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything." The Doctor said as we stepped out of the TARDIS, opposite Donna's house.

"More than I've done." Donna said as the Doctor quickly scanned her with the sonic.

"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."

"Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of."

"I couldn't save him."

"He deserved it."

"No, he didn't. I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."

"Best Christmas present they could have."

"Oh, no, forgot - you hate Christmas." I laughed.

"Yes, I do."

"Even if it snows?" I asked as The Doctor pressed a button inside The TARDIS, shooting a ball of light into the sky and making it snow.

"I can't believe you did that!" Donna gasped.

"Oh, basic atmospheric excitation."

"Merry Christmas."

"And you. So... what will you do with yourself now?"

"Not getting married for starters. And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something."

"Well, you could always..." The Doctor looked at me and I nodded.

"What?"

"... come with us..." He shrugged.

"No."

"Okay." He said quickly.

"I can't..."

"No, that's fine."

"No, but really... everything we did today... do you live your life like that?"

"... Not all the time." I chuckled.

"I think you do. And I couldn't."

"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful."

"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you were stood there like... I don't know... a stranger. And then you made it snow - I mean, you scare me to death!" She looked at me. "How do you do it?" I just smiled at her.

"Well then."

"Your friend, what was her name?"

"Her name was Rose." The Doctor said softly.

"Tell you what I will do though - Christmas dinner. Oh, come on."

"Er..." The Doctor sighed.

"I would," I began. "I _really _would, but I've got a family to see. It's complicated, but it's our first Christmas, and I can't."

"Go on then." She grinned at me. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas Donna." The Doctor said before walking into The TARDIS.

"Flo?"

"Yeah?"

"Your family, do they know how dangerous it is? With him?"

"Yes." I smiled. "My Mum used to travel with him as well. That's how I met her."

"What?" She asked in confusion.

"Tell you what, Donna Noble, next time we meet I'll explain. And we will meet again, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that." She laughed. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." I whispered, walking into The TARDIS.

...

I walked along Bannerman Road in the darkness, stars glittering in the sky as the snow fell. I walked through the drive of number 13 and up to the front door, picking up the spare key Clyde and Maria used from under the brick and unlocked the front door. I walked in, shutting it behind me and brushing the snow off my coat, hanging it up and taking my shoes off before quietly making my way up the stairs and into the attic. I put my head round the door and smiled at Luke, Maria and Clyde chatting quietly on the sofa, Mum reading a book at her desk, Mr Smith producing a picture of a fire on the screen and a big green Christmas tree in the corner.

"Merry Christmas." I said cheerily.

**To be continued in... Me And You, Hurting.**

**A/n - Woop woop! So that's series 2 over! I want to thank everyone for reading, this story has been viewed nearly 3,000 times! Next up will be the events of Smith and Jones, and the beggining of Martha Jones' era. Now, there are a few things to clear up and explain. **

**Apologies, I understand if you may be confused about the sudden adoption of Flo by Sarah Jane, I didn't plan it, it just came out as I wrote. I really wanted Flo to have a family, and a excuse to go back and see Sarah Jane and Luke that was more then just seeing a friend.**

**As for The Doctor not realising Rose nearly fell into the void because of herself, he won't find out for a long time yet, but Flo will definitely feel the guilt of it, even though she tried to save her and it was all Rose's fault in the first place.**

**I've tweaked it a bit and Martha Jones will become a companion earlier, not straight away, but earlier.**

**There will be a lot more 10/Flo romance in the next story, and Martha will have to be trying to bash their heads together with their stubborn and obliviousness. (if that's a word)**

**Flo will not be there for the events of '42' instead there will be a SJA adventure in place, which made me cry writing it.**

**And that's about it! Enjoy and please review, I'd like to get as many as possible before I upload the next story! :D **


	16. Sequel

**Just to let everyone know the sequel is now up: Me And You, Hurting**


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